Cameroon's PM signed yesterday a decree revising the minimum wage in the country. To satisfy all parties, Joseph Dion Ngute (pictured) validated, for the first time in the country, three distinct minimum wages, depending on the activity sector.

The minimum wage for government employees covered by the Labor Code has been raised from CFA36,270 to CFA41,875. This was the minimum wage the government wanted to adopt for all sectors but after negotiations with unionists, it was finally validated only for public employees covered by the Labor Code.

Employees in the agricultural and related sectors, which according to official data represent the largest workforce in the country, will see their minimum wage increase from CFA36,270 to CFA45,000. In the non-agricultural sectors, the minimum wage has been raised to CFA60,000. As a reminder, unionists first wanted a minimum wage of CFA100,000, before finally accepting the amount of CFA60,000 proposed by the employers (Gicam and Ecam). However, they criticized the government for adopting a minimum wage for public employees and another one for the private sector “although they are all governed by the same Labor Code”. "The Cameroonian government is violating the provisions of Article 62 of the Labor Code, which mentions only one minimum wage and not several," they said.

BRM