After Factory Collapse, Questions Mount Over ILO Monitoring
May 17th, 2013, The Cambodia Daily, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Disasters & Disaster Management, Garment Industry, Industry, Infrastructure, International Relations, Labor, Social Concerns
Labor rights activists and a government official accused the International Labor Organization’s Better Factories Cambodia program of ineffectiveness in its monitoring of factory conditions following a deadly ceiling collapse on Thursday at a shoe factory in Kompong Speu province.
Moeun Tola, labor program head of the Community Legal Education Center, a labor rights group, said that Better Factories Cambodia had failed workers by not disclosing the names of factories that flout the country’s laws on factory health and safety. …
In February, a team of Stanford University Law School researchers published a report titled Monitoring in the Dark, charging that the lack of transparency in the Better Factories program had actually set back garment industry standards for Cambodian workers, compared to their counterparts in China, Indonesia and Vietnam.
The researchers also said that the ILO’s “confidential reporting practice” reduces incentives for factory owners and international brands to improve working conditions in Cambodian factories. …
Authorities yesterday said the ceiling collapse in the Wing Star Factory-which produces running shoes for the Japanese spots brand Asics-was due to dangerous building practices. …
Jill Tucker, technical adviser for Better Factories Cambodia, said her program did not monitor the Wing Star factory “in any capacity,” as the monitoring of footwear factories by the ILO program only started last year. …
Regarding the ILO’s decision not to name factories that flout safety regulations, Ms. Tucker defended the way the program operates.
“We are in the process [of] taking programmatic steps toward publicly releasing some non-compliance information and the name of the factory it is connected to,” she said.
The Better Factories program also does not monitor factory construction standards, although Ms. Tucker said that issues such as electrical wiring, overloading on platforms and pathway obstructions are recorded. …
Dene-Hern Chen and Kaing Menghun,
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/after-factory-collapse-questions-mount-over-ilo-monitoring-24860/
Cambodian factory deaths shine spotlight on conditions
May 16th, 2013, DW, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Disasters & Disaster Management, Garment Industry, Industry, Infrastructure, International Relations, Labor, Social Concerns
The deaths of at least two Cambodian workers and injuries sustained by 10 colleagues at a shoe factory southwest of Phnom Penh once more shine a light on conditions in the global garment manufacturing industry.
Thursday’s accident at the Wing Star Shoe factory in the Cambodian capital took place when a section of ceiling collapsed onto a group of several dozen workers. The factory, which has 7,000 staff, is contracted to manufacture shoes for Japanese athletics brand ASICS. …
Dave Welsh, the country director at the American Center for International Labor Solidarity, a labour group, visited Wing Star on Thursday and said it looked as though the ceiling at the Taiwanese-owned factory had been “badly overloaded” with materials. …
Garment and shoe manufacturing is now a pillar of Cambodia’s economy: Exports last year, most of which went to the European Union and the United States, brought in 4.6 billion US dollars.
The industry is also the largest formal employer with more than 350,000 workers. …
[Secretary-general of Garment Manufacturers' Association in Cambodia Ken Loo] was quick to separate what happened in Cambodia with the disaster in Bangladesh, and said the ceiling collapse was not indicative of a systemic problem: instead the deaths and injuries at Wing Star, which is a GMAC member, looked more like the consequence of shoddy construction. …
Jill Tucker, the BFC’s chief technical adviser, said although Thursday’s accident was uncommon it had highlighted the need for factories to adhere to building standards too. …
Deutsche Welle Staff
http://www.dw.de/cambodian-factory-deaths-shine-spotlight-on-conditions/a-16819017
Ceiling Collapse at Shoe Factory in Cambodia Kills 2
May 16th, 2013, The New York Times, Construction, Garment Industry, Industry, Infrastructure
A ceiling at a small factory making shoes on the outskirts of the capital of Cambodia collapsed on Thursday morning, killing at least two workers and underlining global worries about factory safety in poor countries.
Ken Loo, the secretary general of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia, said that steel beams holding up a concrete-floored storage area at mezzanine height between two building had given way. In addition to the two dead, nine workers were injured, three of them severely, by falling pieces of concrete, Mr. Loo said. …
Keith Bradsher
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/world/asia/roof-collapse-at-shoe-factory-in-cambodia-kills-2.html?ref=todayspaper
Bangladesh woes spare Kingdom
May 16th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Business & Commercial Development, Economics, Exports, Garment Industry, Industry, Trade
A recent string of disasters rocking Bangladesh’s garment industry has highlighted its factories’ shocking safety record, and stoked optimism that giant fashion brands will flock to move their orders to countries like Cambodia.
But Cambodia’s garment industry has not experienced any major deluge of business so far, industry insiders said, and some even believe this may remain so for the long term, as Bangladesh tries to refurbish it image.
“So far, there have been no positive effects on Cambodia,” said the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia’s (GMAC) chairman, Van Sou Ieng. “There is just an increase in short-term orders to replace the non-delivery from Bangladesh [due to the recent disasters], but our factories have no capacity to take these up.” …
Low Wei Xiang and Anne Renzenbrink
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013051665643/Business/bangladesh-woes-spare-kingdom.html
Cambodia-Japan trade volume up 14% in 3 months
May 14th, 2013, Xinhuanet News, Business & Commercial Development, Economics, Exports, Foreign Investment, Garment Industry, Imports, Industry, International Relations, pharmaceuticals, Trade
Bilateral trade volume between Cambodia and Japan had amounted to 180 million U.S. dollars in the first three months of this year, up 14 percent compared with the 158 million U.S. dollars at the same period last year, a report of the Japan External Trade Organization (Jetro) showed Tuesday. …
During the January-March period this year, Cambodia’s exports to Japan was worth about 128 million U.S. dollars, up 24 percent from 103 million U.S. dollars at the same period last year, while Japan’s exports to Cambodia valued at 52 million U.S. dollars, down 5 percent from 55 million U.S. dollars, the report said. …
Japan is one of the largest aid providers to Cambodia, but trade and investment ties between the two nations remain low. …
On the investment side, Japanese investors had invested about 300 million U.S. dollars in Cambodia in the last 3 years, according to a record released by Japanese Embassy to Cambodia in January.
Xinhuanet Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2013-05/14/c_132381154.htm
Wage Hike Leads To Rent Fears
May 10th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Economics, Exports, Foreign Investment, Garment Industry, Imports, Industry, Labor, News Source, Trade
Cambodian Confederation of Unions president Rong Chhun yesterday appealed to landlords with properties close to garment factories not to take advantage of the industry’s minimum wage increase by raising rent prices.
The minimum monthly salary in the garment sector – Cambodia’s biggest export industry – officially climbed from $61 to $75 this month, and Chhun said rent prices were already showing signs of following suit. …
Some workers had been told their rent will increase by 15 per cent at the end of this month, Chhun said. …
Moeun Tola, head of the labour program at the Community Legal Education Center, said he had heard similar stories from garment workers in Phnom Penh, Kandal and Kampong Speu. …
Shane Worrell and Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013051065555/National/wage-hike-leads-to-rent-fears.html
Thousands go on strike at factories
May 9th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Business & Commercial Development, Garment Industry, Industry, Labor, Social Concerns
About 5,000 workers went on strike at the M&V garment factory in Kampong Chhnang province yesterday, adding to the list of incidents at the factory in the past two years that has also included mass faintings. …
Elsewhere, about 700 workers from the Pine Great (Cambodia) garment factory in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district blocked the road for half an hour, demanding due wages.
Phai Dara, an FTU officer at the factory, said workers had been promised wages yesterday, but arrived to find equipment in the factory removed and factory staff missing.
She said Labour Ministry officials had met the workers, and company officials had promised to pay their salaries tomorrow. …
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013050965503/National/thousands-go-on-strike-at-factories.html
Union calls for stable rent for workers
May 7th, 2013, The Cambodia Herald, Business & Commercial Development, Economics, Exports, Garment Industry, Industry, Social Concerns, Textiles, Trade
The Cambodian Confederation of Unions (CCU) urged all apartment landlords to not increase their rent because garment and footwear employees get only a basic salary of $80 per month.
A statement issued Monday said the wage increase from $61 per month to $80 will be implemented in late May, asking the landlords nearby the factories not to raise their rent due to the increase. …
Currently around 500,000 workers are employed in 500 different garment and shoe factories around the country.
Cambodia textile exports in the first quarter of 2013 reached $1.34 billion compared to $1.14 billion in the same period last year.
Last year, the country’s garment exports were worth $4.6 billion.
The Cambodia Herald Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=NzI2NDk4N2M2YTA
Cambodia-U.S. trade flat in Q1
May 3rd, 2013, Xinhuanet News, Business & Commercial Development, Economics, Exports, Garment Industry, Imports, Industry, International Relations, Textiles, Trade
The two-way trade volume between Cambodia and the United States valued at 758 million U.S. dollars in the first three months of this year, up only 0.8 percent compared with 752 million U.S. dollars over the same period last year, the statistics of the U.S. Department of Commerce showed Friday.
The United States is Cambodia’s largest export destination. During the January-March period this year, Cambodia’s exports to the U.S. were worth 695 million U.S. dollars, up 0.3 percent, while the country’s imports from the United States were 63 million U.S. dollars, up 7 percent, the report said. …
Xinhua News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2013-05/03/c_132357935.htm
Engineers Hold Labor Day Protest Against Paying Income Tax
May 3rd, 2013, The Cambodia Daily, Business & Commercial Development, Economics, Garment Industry, Industry, Labor, Social Concerns
More than 50 engineers employed by Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Construction Co. Ltd. to work on a new Neak Loueng Bridge in Kandal province protested on Wednesday over paying income tax of 10 percent and are threatening to go on strike again if their employer dose not pay them back.
The Labor Day celebration by 54 engineers in Loeuk Dek district is the latest in a series of protests by workers who are reluctant to pay tax on their salaries and comes as pressure is rising on the government to become less reliant on donor aid and collect more in tax revenue. …
Garment workers who make more than $125 a month through working overtime have also held protects over a 5 percent tax deduction and insisted that factories should be responsible for it.
Still, collecting taxes is a priority for the government. The International Monetary Fund warned earlier this year that the government’s tax revenue is not increasing proportionally to the country’s gross domestic product growth. …
Aun Pheap. P.18
www.cambodiadaily.com
High Risk Seen in Kingdom’s Business Environment: Report
May 2nd, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Agro-Industry, Business & Commercial Development, Disputed Land, Economic Land Concessions, Economics, Foreign Investment, Garment Industry, International Relations, Labor
Corruption, a weak judicial system and the potential for complicity with human and labour rights abuses are key risks for firms looking to invest in Cambodia, a new report [by Maplecroft, a UK-based global risk and strategic consulting firm] analysing investment risk in the Kingdom says. …
According to the report, Cambodia presents “extreme” risks in its business environment, labour rights and protection, and climate change vulnerability, with “high” risks for civil and political rights, its macroeconomic environment, poverty and human development, and the regulatory framework.
But Peter Brimble, deputy Cambodia country director at the Asian Development Bank, said business indexes of this kind need to be carefully interpreted. …
“The recent very rapid inflow of Japanese investors into Cambodia perhaps indicates that certain elements of such indexes may not reflect the reality on the ground, “Japanese investors are known to be sensitive to governance and transparency, and have shown their confidence by voting with their investment dollars,” he said. …
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013050265368/Business/high-risk-seen-in-kingdom-s-business-environment-report.html
Thousands of workers in Cambodia march for pay rise on Int’l Labor Day
May 1st, 2013, Xinhua News, Business & Commercial Development, Economics, Exports, Garment Industry, Industry, Labor, Trade
About 5,000 Cambodian workers took to the street on Wednesday to mark the International Labor Day, calling for pay rise, better labor conditions and decrease in petrol prices, a union representative said.
Marchers, mostly garment workers, held banners and walked from the Freedom Park near the Wat Phnom historical site to the National Assembly in order to submit a petition to the National Assembly. …
The garment industry is Cambodia’s largest income earner, representing more than 80 percent of the country’s exports.
The latest report of the Ministry of Commerce showed that currently, the country has about 500 garment and footwear factories employing some 510,600 workers. Last year, the country exported garment products in equivalent to 4.6 billion U.S. dollars, up 8 percent year-on-year. …
The premier recalled that the worker’s monthly salary was just more than 50 U.S. dollars in 2008 and increased to 61 U.S. dollars in 2010 and further rose to 80 U.S. dollars from May 2013.
He said the government would be happy if the employers could increase more wage for workers.
Xinhua News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-05/01/c_132352087.htm
More Workers stopped From Entering Thailand
May 1st, 2013, The Cambodia Daily, Garment Industry, Industry, International Relations, Labor, Social Concerns
Police at border checkpoints have in the past weeks stopped more than 2,200 people in Banteay Meanchey province from crossing into Thailand to look for better paid work, officials said yesterday.
The focus on Cambodian workers migrating to Thailand-many illegally-comes amid a shortage of labor at building sites in Cambodia, and in the country’s garment factories. …
Moeun Tola, who is in charge of labor programs at a free legal aid organization, Community Legal Education Center, said that Cambodian workers are simply looking for better opportunities in Thailand where the minimum wage is about $300 per month, making it much more attractive than staying in Cambodia where Garment sector’s minimum wage- the only sector with such a set salary is about $80 per month. …
Kuch Naren, P.19
www.cambodiadaily.com
Hun Sen Seeks Garment Factory Vote
April 29th, 2013, The Cambodia Daily, Business & Commercial Development, Economics, Garment Industry, Industry, Labor, Social Concerns
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Saturday asked some 4,000 garment factory workers for their votes in July’s national elections at a rally in Phnom Penh attended by members of several CPP-aligned unions, according to those in attendance. …
Cambodian Union Federation president Choun Mom Thol said yesterday that he was among the 66 pro-CPP unions whose members attended the rally on Koh Pich, where Mr. Hun Sen took credit for a recent pay rise for garment workers.
According to Mr. Mom Thol, the prime minister “said he made the higher minimum wage so that both parties [employers and employees] are happy. He said the government could not make it higher or it will bankrupt the garment factories and workers would lose their jobs.”
Several unions last month reluctantly accepted an increase in monthly garment factory wages from $61 to $73 and an additional $7 health and living benefit, well below the $120 they were hoping for. …
Neou Vannarin, P.18
www.cambodiadaily.com
Workers not allowed to march on Labor Day
April 27th, 2013, The Cambodia Herald, Garment Industry, Industry, Labor, Social Concerns
Around 20,000 workers from the garment, construction, tourism, banking, service and agriculture sectors want to march to present a petition to the National Assembly on International Labor Day, May 1, but Phnom Penh City Hall did not approve the rally.
City hall asked them to wait for the approval from Ministry of Interior before they do anything further. …
He [Rong Chhun President of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions] said workers will choose another place to meet, such as the riverside near the Cambodia Development Council to rally in order to present a petition which consists of 16 demands, focusing on salary, labor law respect and other issues. …
The petition to be presented will ask the government to find solutions to worker’s monthly wages, short time contracts, irresponsibility of owners who had closed factories without providing proper compensation to workers, and violations concerning the rights of associations and unions, he added.
The Cambodia Herald Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=YWNjNWUyNzMwYmE
Cambodia’s garment exports up 17 pct in Q1
April 26th, 2013, Xinhua News, Business & Commercial Development, Economics, Exports, Garment Industry, Industry, International Relations, Textiles, Trade
Cambodia exported garment and textile products in equivalent to 1.34 billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter of 2013, up 17 percent from 1.14 billion U.S. dollars at the same period last year, the Commerce Ministry’s report showed Friday. …
Garment industry is the country’s largest income earner, representing more than 80 percent of the country’s exports.
The sector consists of more than 300 factories, employing about 350,000 workers.
The whole year of 2012, the country exported garment products in equivalent to 4.6 billion U.S. dollars, up 8 percent year-on- year.
Xinhua News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2013-04/26/c_132342123.htm
Union Plan Massive Demonstration in Phnom Penh
April 25th, 2013, The Cambodia Daily, Garment Industry, Labor, Textiles
Four of Cambodia’s independent and opposition-aligned unions have informed the Phnom Penh municipality that they plan to gather 20,000 people on May 1 to march from Olympic Stadium to the National Assembly. …
Chin Chan, P. 18
The Cambodia Daily
Export Values Up 21 Per Cent
April 24th, 2013, The Phnom Penh Post, Agriculture & Agri-business, Agro-Industry, Business & Commercial Development, Economics, Exports, Foreign Investment, Garment Industry, Industry, Rice, Trade
Cambodian export values increased more than 21 per cent in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period last year, and officials said the rise was a positive sign for the Kingdom’s economic growth. …
According to the Ministry of Commerce’s export data obtained by the Post yesterday, exports reached over $1.65 billion in the first three month period this year, up from the goods exported during the same period last year, up from the goods exported during the same period last year, valued at $1.36 billion. …
The World Bank recently predicted that Cambodia’s GDP growth would reach 7.0 per cent for this year, up 0.3 percentage points from its last projection in December. …
Rann Reuy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013042465194/Business/export-values-up-21-per-cent.html
606 New Companies Opened in Cambodia in Q1, Down 33 pct
April 23rd, 2013, Global Times, Agriculture & Agri-business, Agro-Industry, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Domestic Investment, Economics, Garment Industry, Industry, Infrastructure, International Relations, Textiles, Tourism
Cambodia had granted operating licenses to 606 new companies in the first quarter of this year, a 33 percent decrease compared with the 904 firms at the same period last year, the Commerce Ministry’s report showed Tuesday. …
Yim Rom, an official at the ministry’s statistics and planning department, said the drop in new business registration was due to the ministry’s restrictions on registration procedures by thoroughly examining proposed companies’ business plans in order to ensure fair competition and to avoid duplicated trademarks. …
In the whole year of 2012, Cambodia granted operating licenses to 3,385 new firms, a 9 percent rise year-on-year, the commerce report said.
Xinhua News Staff
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/776875.shtml#.UXY28rXTxe8
Cambodian Garment Exports likely to Grow in 2013: GMAC
April 21st, 2013, The Southeast Asia Weekly, Business & Commercial Development, Domestic Investment, Exports, Garment Industry, Industry, Trade
Cambodian garment exports are expected to grow in 2013 with the increasing foreign investments along with focus on new market including Japan and China, according to the Garment Manufactures Association of Cambodia (GMAC). In 2012, apparel exports of Cambodia grew nine percent to US$ 4.61 billion as compared to exports worth US$ 4.24 billion in 2011. …
Singapore, the US, Malaysia, Japan, Thailand, Australia, England and India were some other countries that invested in Cambodian apparel sector in 2012. However, ongoing economic crisis in the traditional export markets such as the US and the EU coupled with numerous strikes are slowing export growth of Cambodia. …
The Southeast Asia Weekly Staff, P.2
www.thesoutheastasiaweekly.com