The controversial matter of next year’s garment sector minimum wage will be finalised in October and put into effect on January 1, a Ministry of Labour committee decided yesterday.

At a meeting of the Labour Advisory Committee (LAC) at the Labour Ministry, Minister of Labour Ith Sam Heng advised unions and employers to begin their own internal discussions about wages in July. Talks between the two groups will take place at the Ministry of Labour in August, he said.

“After August, we will have another meeting between unions, employers and the Ministry of Labour to discuss the minimum wage in September,” Sam Heng said. “In October, we will discuss and make the final decision of how much the . . . wage will be increased in 2015.”

The LAC’s decision in December to set 2014’s minimum wage at $95 per month, later changed by Sam Heng to $100, caused a nationwide strike led by unions who demanded their monthly floor wage be $160. The strike ended in deadly violence in early January.