News

Along a busy highway on the outskirts of Vietnam’s largest city, a worn-out looking woman carrying all her worldly possessions in a handful of plastic bags picks her way through a web of swaying hammocks, looking for one that’s empty so she can lay her ...

The struggling Thailand economy received an unexpected whack for the year ahead yesterday (Oct 26) when US President Donald Trump suspended $1.3 billion worth of duty-free trade for Thai items, including seafood, under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) programme. President Trump is reported to have ...

A New report on the state of the garment industry from Progressive Voice found that last year’s minimum wage law is causing negative workplace impacts for a majority of labourers and, for many, is still not resulting in a living wage.​​ The report, released on ...

Union officials have applauded the Ministry of Labor which is preparing to ratify some International Labor Organization’s conventions, including two that unions, factory workers and domestic workers have long demanded. The Labor Ministry said on November 30 that to promote and protect the rights, benefits and ...

An International Labour Organization official on Sunday urged local unions to present their views on the contentious Trade Union Law to the body’s Committee of Experts, a request that has so far found little traction. The ILO’s Committee of Experts will meet in Geneva, Switzerland, ...

Labour Ministry spokesman Heng Sour in a radio interview on on November 8 refuted criticism that the controversial Trade Union Law burdened unions with cumbersome regulations, claiming the law was merely a continuation of existing policies. On November 8, unions and rights group met to review ...

Despite being in the works since 2012, there is no end in sight for enactment of the Occupational Safety and Health Law, which has not yet reached the floor of the hluttaw for a vote. Since it was drafted, the law has been discussed among ...

A forced labour case involving 14 Myanmar workers and a giant poultry exporter in Thailand’s Lopburi province went unresolved in court on October 31. Unsatisfied with the 1.7 million Thai baht in compensation awarded by the Lopburi Labour Protection and Welfare Office against the poultry farm ...

The Labour Ministry said last week it was drafting a minimum wage law that would expand beyond the garment industry and cover all workers, a proposal that drew cautious praise from union leaders and advocates, along with a healthy dose of scepticism. The proposed law, revealed ...

Myanmar’s preeminent trade union confederation has called on the government to take action to protect migrant workers from exploitation and unfair treatment abroad. Daw Htwe Htwe Thein, a director of the Confederation of Trade Unions of Myanmar, called for stronger regulation of employment agents who recruit ...