Labor Ministry ignored its own research on minimum wage

12 February 2014
The Cambodia Daily
Economic policy and administration / Economy and commerce / Garments and textiles / Government / Industries / Investment / Labor / Labor policy and administration / Law and judiciary / Laws and regulations / Ministries and other national bodies / Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training / Social development
American Center of International Labor Solidarity / Better Factories program / Dave Welsh / ILO / International Labor Organization / Jill Tucker / Labor Advisory Council / Ministry of Labor / National Independent Federation of Textile Unions in Cambodia

The Labor Ministry on Tuesday defended its failure to act on the results of its own study, which in November found that the minimum livable wage for garment factory workers is between $157 and $177. In its annual report, the ministry listed its wage study, carried out in conjunction with labor unions from both sides of the political divide, as its top achievement of 2013, despite the fact that it ignored the results and raised the minimum wage to just $95, since revised to $100 after mass strikes in December. Labor Ministry spokesman Heng Suor said Tuesday that with plenty of extra hours worked in factories, workers could earn the wage they had demanded. “The workers, most of them, they do get the $160 they have been demanding,” Mr. Suor said. … Jill Tucker, chief technical advisor for the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) Better Factories program, said Tuesday that Mr. Suor and the ministry were distorting the definition of “minimum wage.” “The minimum wage is not supposed to represent the total wage a worker earns, it is supposed to be the wage a worker earns from working the basic 48-hour week,” Ms. Tucker said. …

 Aun Pheap and Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/labor-ministry-ignored-its-own-research-on-minimum-wage-51977/