CCU denied recognitio​n again

Dear All,

The Cambodian Confederation of Unions has been shot down again i its bid for formal recognition as a trade union confederation, president Rong Chhun said yesterday, this time because some of its unions represent teachers. For more information please download attached file.

Thanks,

Administrator of CCU

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Cambodian Confederation of Unions denied recognition again

Friday, 22 June 2012

Shane Worrell and Mom Kunthear

The Phnom Penh Post

The Cambodian Confederation of Unions has been shot down again in its bid for formal recognition as a trade union confederation, president Rong Chhun said yesterday, this time because some of its unions represent teachers.

The Ministry of Labour informed the CCU in a letter obtained by the Post yesterday that its application for recognition – which would have granted it more bargaining power – had been rejected, following a similarly unsuccessful application in 2006.

“After checking the document requesting the licence for [CCU], the Ministry of Labour and Vocational training has seen that . . . some of the members represented in this confederation union are not covered under the Labour Law,” the letter states.

CCU comprises seven unions and associations that represent more than 90,000 workers.

Media Advisory

This is just to inform that on 27 June we are going to have press conference which talking about the current employment contract Practice and the need for it change. For more details please see in attach file!

Best,
Sarom


https://www.box.com/s/be4edb0f47d95d57b53e

Union leader brings backup

Lor Sopheak (centre), national secretary-general of the Khmer Workers Power Co-operation Union and an employee at the Tai Yean factory, leaves the Ang Snuol district hall in Kandal province yesterday. Photograph: Pha Lina/Phnom Penh Post

Thursday, 17 May 2012
Mom Kunthear
The Phnom Penh Post

More than 20 union members and workers at a factory in Kandal province rallied around a union leader yesterday, fearing that he would be arrested after police called him in for questioning.

Lor Sopheak, national secretary-general of the Khmer Workers Power Co-operation Union [KWPCU] and an employee at the Tai Yean factory, said he had been ordered to appear at the Ang Snuol district hall yesterday over his alleged involvement in blocking National Road 4 on Saturday.

Lor Sopheak said police had ordered him to thumbprint an official statement promising not to order workers to block the road again – despite his insistence that he had not led the demonstration.

“They accused me of leading workers on strike and blocking [the road], but I did not do as they accused me.

Workers left in limbo on union law

Women on a production line at a clothing factory in the Vattanac Industrial Park complex in Phnom Penh last year. Photograph: Will Baxter/Phnom Penh Post

Tuesday, 08 May 2012
Shane Worrell
The Phnom Penh Post

Almost six months after the latest draft of the proposed trade-union law was sent to the Council of Ministers for approval, employers, unions and workers’ rights groups are left asking the same question: What’s happened to it?

Confusion over the status of the landmark law, which includes provisions for informal workers such as tuk-tuk drivers to unionise and collectively bargain, is such that government secretary-general Nady Tann yesterday could not say where the draft law was.

“As far as I know . . . it was sent back to the Ministry of Labour, but I am not so clear where it is now,” he said. “I only see it when it is to be finished.”

Trade Union Statement (in English and Khmer)

http://www.box.com/s/9fe0dc865521320e78de

CATU's letter to the minister of Labor

Case of workers fainting at a garment and laundry factory in Sihanouk province

Unions seek changes to labour law

Garment workers protest for better wages and benefits outside M&V International Manufacturing in September 2010. (Photo by: Will Baxter)

Monday, 26 December 2011
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
The Phnom Penh Post

Union leaders are calling for 10 changes to be made to the draft law that will regulate them, including allowing civil servants to form unions, they said yesterday, following a letter calling for two ministers to intervene late last week.

The Cambodian Trade Union Coordination Council wrote to Ith Sam Heng, minister of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation, as well as Vong Soth, minister of Labour and Vocational Training, asking them to make the changes to the legislation, now under review by the Council of Ministers.

The letter listed 10 changes they wanted, beginning with allowing civil servants, including teachers, the right to form unions. They also called for a reduction in the cost unions would have to pay if they were hit by fines for wrongdoing, from the current one million to six million riel, to 10,000 to 500,000 riel.

CTUCC's comments on the draft Trade Union Law

Disagreements at the MV garment factory

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CCU meeting with ITUC

http://www.box.com/s/7hipagrv6zu2y42nogr1

Strikers ordered back to work

Garment workers from the Cambo Handsome 1 factory strike in Phnom Penh yesterday. (Photo by: Mai Vireak)

Thursday, 01 December 2011
Tep Nimol and Vincent MacIsaac
The Phnom Penh Post

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court ordered on Tuesday that workers striking at Cambo Handsome 1 return to work within 48 hours and banned them from striking in front of the garment factory, in the capital’s Dankgor district.

Seang Sambath, president of the Federation of Friendship Unions, said nearly 1,000 workers continued their strike yesterday as mediators from the labour ministry continued to attempt to negotiate a settlement between the two sides. The workers heard about the court order yesterday, he said.

Kim Young Woo, co-ordinator for corporate social responsibility at Hansoll Textile, Cambo Handsome’s parent company in Korea, said late on Tuesday the company had received a letter from the court that day ordering workers to end their strike and return to work.

Seang Sambath said most workers would continue to strike today, despite the court order to return to work.

Garment maker Von Samen said workers would “absolutely refuse” to return to the factory until their five demands had been met.

These included the withdrawal of a theft charge against a union leader and his suspension from the factory, along with the suspension of two other union leaders, and the replacement of security guards at the factory.

Cambodian garment workers strike at big brand supplier

PHNOM PENH | Wed Nov 30, 2011

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodian garment workers went on strike on Monday at a factory producing clothing for global brands Gap, J.C. Penney (JCP.N) and Old Navy, demanding that the plant reinstates suspended trade union representatives.

Garment-making has been Cambodia's main manufacturing industry as it recovers from decades of conflict. Last year, the sector grew 28 percent and contributed more than $3 billion towards the country's $11 billion economy.

It employs 300,000 people, many of them women, at scores of factories, owned mostly by Chinese and Taiwanese companies but it has seen its share of industrial action over pay and conditions.

Protest for union trio continues

Workers strike yesterday outside the Cambo Handsome garment factory in Phnom Penh. (Photo by: Mai Vireak)

Wednesday, 30 November 2011
Tep Nimol and Vincent MacIsaac
The Phnom Penh Post

Workers and managers at Cambo Handsome 1 garment factory were continuing discussions last night after a fourth day of protest in which union leaders said more than 20 employees were injured in a confrontation with police.

The workers are protesting against the suspension of three union leaders at the Korean-owned facility, which was triggered by the alleged theft by a union leader last Friday of two T-shirts bound for outlets of The Gap.

“The talks could go late and resume in the morning,” David Kim, an executive at Hansoll Textile’s Seoul headquarters, told the Post yesterday afternoon. Hansoll, which has garment factories in seven countries, owns Cambo Handsome Ltd, which has five factories in Cambodia, employing more than 7,000 workers in total, according to Hansoll.

‘Huge changes’ made to new draft union law

Friday, 18 November 2011
David Boyle with additional reporting by Chhay Channyda and Vincent Macisaac
The Phnom Penh Post

A new draft of the trade-union law included “huge changes” that removed all major controversial aspects of the legislation, including criminal sanctions, a union advocate said yesterday.

Dave Welsh, country director for the American Centre for International Labour Solidarity, said the Ministry of Labour was to be commended for heeding criticisms of a law that started off as what could have been “the most draconian trade union law in the region”.

“But they’ve dropped everything that was of concern, and they’ve expanded the scope of it to include informal-sector workers and domestic workers.

“All criminal sanctions against trade-union leaders have been dropped, and it will be much easier to form a trade union,” Welsh said.

Announcement by the Cambodian Trade Union Coordination Council

CCU letter to Vong Sot, the minister of Labor and Professional Traning

June Textile Press Alert

PRESS ALERT:

Press Conference

Sunway Hotel

July 17, 2011

09:00AM to 11:00AM

June Textile workers, who have been out of work since their factory was set ablaze on March 31st, the Cambodian National Confederation (CNC) and the Cambodian Confederation Unions (CCU) are organizing a press conference at Sunway Hotel from 9:00 until 11:00 am. After the fire at the factory the factory workers have been struggling to get their due compensation from June Textile Co. After the dispute was taken to the Arbitration Council, and an award given to the workers, June Textile has refused to implement the Arbitration Council award. This press conference is aiming to send a message to all stake holders and appealing to June Textile Management to honor the Arbitration Award and respect the Labor Law of Cambodia. We would like to invite all members of the press and human rights observers to attend the press conference.

Please Contact:

Ms. Morm Nhim, President of the Cambodian National Confederation (CNC) at 012824640.

Mr. Rong Chhun, President of Cambodian Confederation Unions (CCU) at 012930706.

CCU asks Hun Xen to intervene with the June Textiles Co.

Laborers Issue Demands Over Draft Union Law

Rong Chhun and Ath Thon (Photo: The Phnom Penh Post)

Wednesday, 13 July 2011
Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh

“We do not want to make a joke law that will put pressure on trade union leaders and [hurt] the rights and freedoms of trade union leaders.”

Union leaders offered their official recommendations for a draft law to the Ministry of Labor on Wednesday, saying they wanted at least 12 articles dropped that they say will inhibit the work of labor leaders.

Failure by the government to drop the articles from the draft will lead to “mass demonstrations,” seven major union leaders said in a statement, following talks among the government, labor and factory representatives.

Ath Thun, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers, said the unions were working to protect the rights of laborers against a law that restricts the rights of union leaders.