Khmer Times/Mom Kunthear Friday, 02 September 2016
The Labor Minister followed up his tough talk to unions on Wednesday with even more threats yesterday, telling unions that protests will not help them secure a higher minimum wage – despite their mild successes with demonstrations in the past.
Labor Minister Ith Samheng, speaking at the National Tripartite Workshop on the Minimum Wage in Cambodia, said the process to decide the new minimum wage would be “more mature” than in 2014 and 2015.
“Protests are not the solution. The use of demonstrations or protests will affect the nation, employers, workers and the government. Those who want to initiate this must be responsible for it,” he said.
The Labor Ministry and related parties are now starting the negotiation process for next year’s minimum wage in the garment and footwear industries. The ministry plans to conduct an economic review of the garment industry before kicking off the negotiating process.
Mr. Samheng repeatedly told the audience that if no agreement on the minimum wage can be found, protests would not be an appropriate response. All sides must negotiate until they are able to find common ground, he claimed, because that was better than protesting or striking, which would “affect the national economy.”
“In fact, everyone needs a high wage, but it must be appropriate to ensure living standards and economic efficiency,” he said. “It means that to ensure investment and employment at the same time, you cannot cause problems for potential investment because it affects worker’s livelihoods.”
The government has been notorious for its violent responses – often at the urging of factory owners and employers – to worker protests in the past and often uses police forces to either shut down demonstrations or stop them from reaching their desired destination.
The government has also imposed more legal restrictions on labor strikes and protests to shore up foreign investor confidence through the Labor Law passed earlier this year.
According to the latest figures by the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training, there were 336 strikes in 2015, a mere decrease of two percent from the year before.
In June, Labor Ministry secretary of state Oum Mean said that talks within the ministry on the minimum wage would begin in July, followed by bilateral discussions in August and trilateral discussions with unions, employers and the ministry this month.
He said the ministry plans to hold discussions with the labor advisory committee in October to finalize what date next year the new wage level will be enforced.
“We have created a scientific formula which all relevant parties are satisfied with and will accept the criteria for the revised minimum wage, which will be accomplished by using data from the National Institute of Statistics which will determine the economic factors including productivity, competitiveness, market conditions and the profit level of the sector,” he said.
The country has been beset by sporadic union protests over the last four years for a variety of issues related to the garment industry. But the minimum wage, which workers are continually disappointed by, is often a watershed issue, uniting workers in a variety of factories and industries and serving as the core of tensions between employees and employers.
The minimum wage increased to $140 per month in 2016, which was $12 more than the $128 workers received the year before. When the wage hike was announced in October last year, some unions continued to protest for months, demanding at least $160.
Nang Sothy, a board member of the Cambodian Federation of Employers and Business Associations, trotted out well-worn talking points in his speech that employers and factory owners have been using for years, telling the workshop that the minimum wage should be “appropriate” and acceptable to employers.
Employers, he said, could not raise wages “rapidly” without thinking of the impact it would have on job security.
“As we know, everyone is unemployed if there are no orders. Employers cannot make orders alone, and we need the participation of unions and support from the government by standing together and working together to secure more buyers,” he said.
Mr. Sothy added that regardless of the minimum wage that is decided, both sides had to be prepared to not get everything they want in the negotiations. He echoed Mr. Samheng’s comments, slamming workers for striking whenever they disagreed with a decision.
“We must accept, with respect, the decisions by standing up and seeking more orders. We have to ensure that there are no protests so that no violence occurs,” he said.
President of the Cambodian Alliance Trade Unions (CATU) Yang Sophorn said yesterday that unions and workers are never delighted to have to strike. But if the new minimum wage does not meet their requirements and forces workers to live in substandard conditions, they will protest.
“We unions have the right to support them. We do not force them to strike, but the workers do it themselves when they are willing. The government and employers do not pay workers enough to live in good conditions, so these people have a right to protest. And on behalf of us as their leaders, we have to support them,” she said.
Ms. Sophorn added that protests were only used as a last resort when factories continued to ignore workers’ rights and needs.
Ath Thorn, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union, said yesterday that the government and especially the Labor Ministry should spend less time excoriating workers for protesting and more time examining the accuracy of their figures and projections for next year’s profits in the garment sector.
“When workers protest, the wage will hike. We never want to go on strike. We want the government to increase wages for workers without having to protest. We just want the government and employers to provide workers with a decent living,” Mr. Thorn said.
Union groups met and decided yesterday on a minimum wage figure to start negotiating from, and they will now send the figure to the Labor Arbitration Council today, Mr. Thorn said.
He added that unions are deciding on a figure between $180 and $200 per month.
Labor Minister Ith Samheng previously announced the government aimed to increase the minimum wage for workers to $160 per month.