Cambodia says high US import taxes keep workers poor
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Phnom Penh (dpa) - The Cambodian government has blamed the low wages paid to the country's garment workers on high US import duties, local media reported Friday.
Cham Prasidh, minister of handicrafts and industry, said that as much as the government would like to increase workers' wages, to do so would spell economic suicide as "all the factories would run away," The Phnom Penh Post reported.
Cambodia's 600,000 garment workers earn a minimum monthly wage of 100 dollars. Unions and workers have recently been calling for a 77-dollar monthly increase, saying the current salary is not a living wage.
Textile workers in Cambodia produce clothes for US and European brands such as H&M, Zara and Nike.
Prasidh said in parliament on Thursday that Cambodia, which exported 5 billion dollars worth of garments in 2013, had paid 500 million dollars in import duties to the United States, one of the biggest importers.
"It is so unjust for us. It means that these days we help America with 500 million dollars every year," he said.
The US should follow the example of countries that have more relaxed duties because Cambodia is a developing country, he said. The European Union places no tax on Cambodian imports.
Opposition party leader Sam Rainsy had a different idea for how the government could raise the workers' monthly wage: cracking down on corruption.
"If we reduce under-the-table payments or clear out unofficial payments altogether, I believe that we will benefit - benefit for the nation and for the workers," he said.
