2014-2016 Impact: Illustration Labour rights: Cambodia's minimum wage

C.CAWDU, the garment federation of CLC in Cambodia has seen its membership increase over the last three years from 63.760 members on 1 January 2013 to over 81.000 members in 2016, whereas the total number of members of the confederation is currently 93.000 workers. Perhaps the most spectacular result of the last 3 years is the raise of the monthly minimum wage in the garment sector: from 80 USD in 2013, the minimum wage went up to 100 USD in 2014, 128 USD in 2015, 140 USD in 2016 to 153 USD in 2017, which is way higher than the program objective of 120 USD. Although the trade union movement since the suppression of the minimum wage demonstrations in January 2014 has put forward a demand of 177 USD, it is undoubtedly so that the garment workers over the past 3 years have seen the largest increase in their income ever. It is needless to say that this result is mainly the effort of C.CAWDU and CLC, who over the last three years – with the support of WSM, ACV-CSC, the Clean Clothes Campaign, IndustriALL and UNI Global Union - have conducted a remarkable national and international campaign on ‘decent living wages’ to put pressure on the garment brands and retailers like C&A, H&M, Zara, Levi’s to increase the low wages of the Cambodian garment workers.

“Government sets minimum wage at $153 a month”, Phnom Penh Post, 30 September 2016

Throughout 2014-2016, CLC and C.CAWDU have made a lot of progress in formulating their political demands and developing policy proposals, negotiating with local employers and lobbying international brands and the Cambodian government. 2015 was the first time that they succeeded in mobilizing up to 200.000 garment workers to show their support for the minimum wage target of 177 USD per month, through ‘soft’ industrial action (awareness raising and informing colleagues in the factory, campaigning). The same year they learned to collaborate with the other Asian partner organizations of WSM and to formulate their demands into a position paper on social protection in Asia, which they defended towards the ASEAN Forum on Labour and Migration and towards the meeting of the ASEAN Trade Union Council. In November 2016, 46 staff members of CLC familiarized themselves with one specific ILO supervisory procedure to denounce violations of core labour standards in Cambodia in a workshop that was organized by WSM’s advocacy department.

Training on ILO supervisory system for CLC and C.CAWDU, November 2016