Trade unions and employers in the Cambodian garment sector have been asked to get ready for negotiations to introduce new minimum wage from January 2017. Similar to the last few years, wage discussions would be carried out by a tripartite working group consisting of representatives of trade unions, the ministry of labour, and the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC), the ministry said in a statement. All parties coming to the negotiating table have to prepare themselves by conducting surveys on social and economic criteria, as well as the poverty line, the statement said. The ministry aims to complete negotiations and reach an agreement on the new minimum wage by October this year. In recent years, the minimum wage in Cambodian garment and footwear sector has increased significantly from $66 per month in 2012 to $140 per month at present. The garment and footwear industry is the largest foreign exchange earner for Cambodia. In 2015, the sector exported goods valued at $7 billion, making up about 80 per cent of the southeast Asian nation’s total export earnings. There are around 1,000 factories producing garments and footwear in Cambodia, which together employ nearly 750,000 people, according to estimates.
