"Ministry extends deadline to propose minimum wage", 4 September 2019

The Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training … gave unions and the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) until Friday to decide on their figures for the sector’s minimum wage for next year.

Negotiations on next year’s minimum wage began on Tuesday.

GMAC has previously said it wants the garment worker minimum wage to remain the same.

Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training spokesman Heng Sour told reporters after the second meeting of the National Council on Minimum Wage on Tuesday that the delay is to allow all sides to set a figure for negotiations to find a minimum wage acceptable to all.

“Each party should have time to hold meetings to find the figure they will take into the wage negotiations. The government will coordinate talks to find a minimum wage acceptable [to all sides],” said Sour, who is also secretary of state at the Ministry of Labour.

Six tripartite meetings of the National Council on Minimum Wage, which includes workers and employers’ representatives and the Ministry of Labour, will be held … to reach a final decision, the Ministry of Labour’s schedule states.

… GMAC deputy secretary-general Kaing Monika said employers did not have the ability to bring to negotiations an increase to the minimum wage.

He said the majority of GMAC members had agreed to keep it at $182 a month.

… Some unions have said workers could this year receive an increase of between $20 and $27 a month.