Cambodia to discuss 2014 pay rise for garment workers next month

Cambodia's labor ministry, garment manufacturers, and trade unions set to talk about the increase of 2014 minimum wage for garment workers next month, according to a press statement on Thursday. "The talks will be held on Dec. 16," the labor ministry said in a statement. "The ministry would like to call on all garment workers to keep calm in order to give possibilities to the tripartite committee to discuss the pay rise for 2014." The wage will be likely to be raised from January next year, but no amount has yet been specified. Currently, the minimum wage of a garment worker is 80 U.S. dollars including 5 U.S. dollars health allowance. Low wage has sparked frequent strikes in this Southeast Asian nation. Earlier this week, four trade unions demanded that the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC) raise the minimum wage of workers to 154 U.S. dollars a month, or they threatens nationwide strikes. "We are demanding an increase in the minimum wage to 154 U.S. dollars a month," the unions said in a joint letter sent to GMAC' s president Van Sou Ieng on Tuesday. Garment industry is the country's largest foreign exchange earner, accounting for about 80 percent of the country's overall exports. The sector comprises about 500 factories with some 510, 600 workers. The country exported garment products in equivalent to 4.66 billion U.S. dollars in the first 10 months of this year, up 22 percent year-on-year, according to a report of the commerce ministry.