Government Proposes 100% Hike in Minimum Wage by 2018
The government proposed doubling the minimum wage for garment workers—from $80 to $160—within five years during a meeting with labor unions and garment manufacturers on Monday at the Ministry of Labor. “We have a plan to raise the minimum wage up to $160 for garment workers, and I hope that there will be no more problems happening after wages start to be raised beginning next year,” Labor Minister Ith Sam Heng said. The proposal will now be discussed by the Labor Advisory Council, a tripartite body composed of representatives from the government, unions and factory owners, during a meeting on the minimum wage planned for December 24, Mr. Sam Heng said. ... At Thorn, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Unions, the country’s largest independent union, proposed to increase the minimum wage to $160 next year, as he said his union had conducted research showing that the living wage for workers is about $177. CPP-aligned union leaders Chuon Mom Thol, president of the Cambodian Union Federation, and Sam Aun, president of the Cambodian Labor Union Federation, said that the minimum wage should be raised in smaller increments over time to prevent scaring away factory owners. ...
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http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-proposes-100-hike-in-minimum-wage-by-2018-49396/
