Cambodia has opened its arms to foreign businesses through special economic zones, which offer investors space, tax incentives and relatively cheap labor. As such zones expand, unions are trying to access the factories behind SEZ gates, as labor compliance sometimes falls by the wayside.
In recognition of International Women’s Day, we gathered our own experiences, and the perspectives of several other women and men in newsrooms, to open a discussion about equity in journalism — whether the issues are about newsroom culture or punishable by law.
As garment factory workers age, their contracts are less likely to be renewed, they struggle to be hired, and they’re cast out with little training to take on anything new, workers and advocates say.
Garments exports dropped 9 percent last year, the manufacturers association estimated this week, amid a brutal year for the industry in which the Labor Ministry says more than 70,000 jobs were lost.
Cambodia banned commercial surrogacy in 2016. Since then, about 100 surrogate mothers have been ordered by courts to raise the children they carried for others — a costly but happy result for one.
After a day of trying to speak to her factory’s HR manager over union members losing their jobs, Soy Sros posted her frustrations online. Two days later, police showed up at the factory and imprisoned her for almost two months. Her charge is pending.
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