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Cambodian trade unions demand monthly minimum wage of 168 USD for garment sector

Xinhua, September 29, 2015 Adjust font size:

Trade unions, which represent Cambodia's 700,000 garment and footwear workers, unanimously agreed on Tuesday to demand the employers to increase the monthly minimum wage in the garment and footwear sector to 168 U.S. dollars for 2016, up from the current 128 U.S. dollars, according to a joint statement.

"After an over-an-hour meeting on Tuesday morning, the trade union representatives unanimously decided to set a figure of 168 U. S. dollars to negotiate in a tripartite meeting (trade union, factory, and government representatives)," the statement said.

However, in the meeting, the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC), which represents the factory employers, said they could afford to increase only 3.7 percent, or 4.7 U.S. dollars, to the current wage of 128 U.S. dollars, according to Labor Ministry spokesman Heng Sour.

The new minimum wage for the sector for 2016 is expected to be announced early next month.

GMAC's president Van Sou Ieng warned last week that a steep increase in the minimum wage for the sector would affect the survival of many factories.

Garment and footwear sector, the kingdom's largest foreign currency earner, are comprised of nearly 1,100 factories with some 700,000 workers, according to the government figures.

The sector exported products worth 3.3 billion U.S. dollars in the first half of 2015, accounted for about 80 percent of the country's total exports. Endi