The monthly minimum wage for Cambodia’s garment workers in 2016 is yet to be decided and workers will have to wait to know what it would be. The provisional deadline to decide how much to hike the sector’s $128-a-month pay was missed by the Labor Advisory Committee (LAC), as employer and trade union representatives continued to disagree on a number to present to the Labor Ministry. The tripartite negotiations are ongoing still.
After weeks of demands ranging from $158 to $178, most of the unions representing more than 700,000 garment workers in the Southeast Asian nation are stuck to the $168 figure proposed by them. Citing the National Social Security Fund’s increasing costs, factory owners, increased their suggestion by 0.25 per cent to propose a 3.75 per cent wage increase. Union leaders, however, were not pleased with this.
Labor Minister Ith Sam Heng’s October 5, 2015 deadline was missed by the LAC. Heng Sour, ministry spokesperson, though said the government did not force a decision in the hope that the employers’ and unions’ interests would be in sync.
Cambodia’s textile and garment manufacturing is huge—around 80 per cent of the country’s exports, and they are worth more than $5 billion per year. Big, international brands such as H&M, Inditex, Primark, C&A, and Topshop go to Cambodia for supplies.
Ustr.gov
