Cambodian trade unions campaign for minimum wage

Cambodia's trade unions campaigned on Wednesday to demand the monthly minimum wage of 160 U.S. dollars for the garment and footwear sector as negotiations between the unions and the employers have reached no agreement.

Ath Thorn, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union, which is the largest union in the kingdom, said eight trade unions led more than 100,000 workers of their members to rally in front of factories during lunch time from 11 a.m. to 12 a.m. local time to demand decent wages.

"The campaign is aimed to call on the government, employers and buyers to provide decent wages to workers and to mark the World Day for Decent Work," he told reporters.

The campaign was made after the trade unions and the employers have reached no agreement on the monthly minimum wage for the garment and footwear sector for 2016.

According to Labor Ministry spokesman Heng Sour, the trade unions demanded a monthly minimum wage of 160 U.S. dollars, up from the current 128 U.S. dollars, but the employers said they could afford to increase to 133 U.S. dollars only.

Garment and footwear sector, the kingdom's largest foreign currency earner, are comprised of nearly 1,100 factories with some 700,000 workers, according to the government figures.

The sector exported products worth 3.3 billion U.S. dollars in the first half of 2015, accounting for about 80 percent of the country's total exports.