Cambodia yesterday raised the controversial monthly minimum wage for garment workers by 28 percent, a decision likely to infuriate unions seeking a higher increase and revive calls for strike action.
Cambodia deployed armed troops in the capital in September as garment workers held rallies to revive a campaign for higher wages that had helped to stoke a year-long political crisis.
Sixteen members of the Cambodian Ministry of Labor’s Labor Advisory Committee voted for the government-proposed minimum wage of US$123, compared with the current wage of US$100, which was later raised to US$128, starting next year.
Independent unions were pushing for US$140.
“I believe that workers will improve their living conditions, factories will be able to pay and production will increase,” Cambodian Minister of Labor Ith Sam Heng said.
The growth of the garment sector has been a boon for the fledgling economy, providing as many as half a million jobs and generating US$5 billion annually, but frequent protests by increasingly assertive unions, complaining about poor wages and bad conditions, have tested the government’s patience.
At stake, if the campaign leads to prolonged strikes, is the possibility of reduced orders from firms that outsource to Cambodian factories, such as Gap Inc, Nike Inc, H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB and Zara, owned by Inditex.
Two unions, the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union and the Free Trade Union, said that they did not agree with the new figure and would hold meetings with their members about what to do next.
Joel Preston, a consultant at labor rights group Community Legal Education Centre, denounced the pay rise.
“There is going to be a really strong response from the unions and from the workers. This decision is completely unacceptable,” he said.
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