Garment Makers Ready Complaints Against ILO
By Yun Samean and John Maloy
THE CAMBODIA DAILY
The Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia is preparing to compile a report of grievances against the International Labor Organization to present to Prime Minister Hun Sen, a GMAC official said Monday.
The ILO is currently seeking clarification from the government after Prime Minister Hun Sen last week said that there might be "bad people" working for the UN agency who have attempted to extort money from factory owners.
Cheath Khemara, labor issues officer for GMAC, claimed Monday that GMAC has received many complaints from its members alleging that ILO staffers have made biased reports on factory working conditions.
GMAC members have claimed that ILO staff only interview workers and blame factory owners for problems, he said.
GMAC members will meet soon to compile all of the complaints for a report to be sent to Hun Sen, he said, though he did not give a date.
Tuomo Poutiainen, chief technical adviser for ILO's Better Factories Cambodia project, said that approximately 300 individual factory reports are generated by ILO each year for Cambodia and that the "margin of error in these reports is minimal."
"From our perspective the reports are accurate," he said, adding that factory owners are given every opportunity to raise objections during the monitoring process.
If GMAC does have serious grievances, ILO is sensitive to these concerns and hopes that they can be discussed in a constructive manner, he said.
On Wednesday, Hun Sen called on the ILO to examine whether its factory reports have had misinformation inserted.
Kari Tapiola, the ILO's executive director, subsequently sent a letter directly to Hun Sen seeking clarification of the remarks, Poutiainen said.
The government has not yet explained the remarks, but ILO representatives will meet with officials from the Commerce and Labor Ministries this week to discuss this and other matters, Poutiainen said.
Van Sou Ieng, GMAC chairman, said the ILO should be advancing the garment industry rather than policing factories. He added that GMAC still wants to work with ILO, before referring further questions to Cheath Khemara.
Information Minister and government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said Sunday that Hun Sen did not criticize the ILO or say that its reports were inaccurate, but merely informed the ILO of concerns raised by a local businessman. "Hun Sen just asked ILO to examine its staff," Khieu Kanharith said. "He didn’t blame ILO."
The ILO is currently seeking clarification from the government after Prime Minister Hun Sen last week said that there might be "bad people" working for the UN agency who have attempted to extort money from factory owners.
Cheath Khemara, labor issues officer for GMAC, claimed Monday that GMAC has received many complaints from its members alleging that ILO staffers have made biased reports on factory working conditions.
GMAC members have claimed that ILO staff only interview workers and blame factory owners for problems, he said.
GMAC members will meet soon to compile all of the complaints for a report to be sent to Hun Sen, he said, though he did not give a date.
Tuomo Poutiainen, chief technical adviser for ILO's Better Factories Cambodia project, said that approximately 300 individual factory reports are generated by ILO each year for Cambodia and that the "margin of error in these reports is minimal."
"From our perspective the reports are accurate," he said, adding that factory owners are given every opportunity to raise objections during the monitoring process.
If GMAC does have serious grievances, ILO is sensitive to these concerns and hopes that they can be discussed in a constructive manner, he said.
On Wednesday, Hun Sen called on the ILO to examine whether its factory reports have had misinformation inserted.
Kari Tapiola, the ILO's executive director, subsequently sent a letter directly to Hun Sen seeking clarification of the remarks, Poutiainen said.
The government has not yet explained the remarks, but ILO representatives will meet with officials from the Commerce and Labor Ministries this week to discuss this and other matters, Poutiainen said.
Van Sou Ieng, GMAC chairman, said the ILO should be advancing the garment industry rather than policing factories. He added that GMAC still wants to work with ILO, before referring further questions to Cheath Khemara.
Information Minister and government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said Sunday that Hun Sen did not criticize the ILO or say that its reports were inaccurate, but merely informed the ILO of concerns raised by a local businessman. "Hun Sen just asked ILO to examine its staff," Khieu Kanharith said. "He didn’t blame ILO."
15 comments:
HUN SEN k,eng k,ang doj k,at' knong k,awm
kroan beu ban te jea mouy khmer.
kom tha leuy ah Hun Sen kh,laj ILO
sombey youns nov Kambuja kaw Hun Sen th,loap sompaeh kh,lop kh,laj der
neeh ban hau' tha ah Hun Sen k,eng k,ang te jeamouy khmer
Nasty Hun Sen
POUK AH SVA AND POUK AH SEK KMEAN SROK
YES IT IS BETTER TO LIVE AND DIE FOR CAMBODIA RATHER THAN LIVE AND DIE IN THE CAGE FOR BEAST OF UNCLE SAM... ?
YES IT IS BETTER TO GOVERN AND LEAD THE COUNTRY RATHER THAN PRETENDING TO BE EDUCATED AND BEHAVED LIKE BEAST AND SATH SVA AND SATH SEK KMEAN SROK NEUV.. ?
WE ARE IN THE BETTER POSITION TO GIVE AND TEACH BEAST AND ALIENS HOW TO BEHAVE AS HUMANS... ?
KMENG WAT KHNONG SROK
Hun Sen Government is very good to defend their corrupted officials,but it is failed to protect Cambodians right who were violated by their cronies and other countries.
POUK AH SVA AND POUK AH SEK KMEAN THOR A
YES IT IS BETTER TO LIVE AND DIE IN THE FREE VAST OPEN PRAIRIE FIELD OF UNCLE SAM... THEN
TO LIVE AND DIE SENSELESSLY UNDER THE RULES OF SVA CPP WITHOUT HUMANITY AND JUSTICE.
YES IT IS BETTER TO PRETEND TO BE EDUCATED AND LOOK FOR CHANGE THEN TO GOVERN MERCILESSLY LIKE BEAST SATH SVA AND SATH KMIN KOMNOD CHI MUNOUS.
WE ARE IN THE BETTER POSITION TO CHANGE AND SHOW BEAST AND ALIENS KMENG WAT THAT THEIR BEHAVIORS DOES NOT CONSTITUTE HUMAN BEING. WE ARE IN POSITION TO TEACH THEM KMENG WAT NOT TO EAT ANOTHER HUMAN BEING'S SBEK? ARE THEY UNDERGROUND DEMONS? WE ARE IN POSITION TO MAKE THEM HUMAN AGAIN...?
KMENG RONGCHAK CHEP MOT KANDAL THNGAI
To:10:47P.M.
Your comment is like a broken record. Can you say something different? Ass Hole
Let us not dwell here on the
expense of the poor people,
alright? I have seen several
innacurate reports in the past
made by Union Rep., Opposition,
and Media such as KI Media...
The thing that you should know here
is that you aint gonna a fool
us no more because we all know
your dirty evil tatics to struggle
for power. Get it?
Wow the guy 10:47am, let debate on issues and put your anger aside. You need to see the world before you can say anything about your government. You deserve better and Cambodian people deserve better. What put you and all of us here is because of the government is not doing their job otherwise is no need of this debate.
This government has proven staggering records of deceptive and abusing on their own people. What the ILO do is not intentionally trying to hurt anyone but a pressure for change to improve working conditions. To the government and to you, it is a negative thing. I don't see it that way; I think we should thank the ILO for pointing all the problems for us.
What 10:47 said is no wrong; it is better to live free than to live poor with no freedom. Working and paying taxes is a good thing for any responsible citizen. We are happy to do it so that the government can use the money to do other things for society. If the government has no money; how can the government properly run the country? What's wrong with that? As a good citizen like you, are you paying your taxes to the Cambodian government? Are you doing your part to make Cambodia a better place to live? Oh and that fool too 3:54am?
Of course every khmer who works
pay tax. For every USD they made,
the Employer send in about 10%.
And FYI, the reason we are here
is not because our government
is doing bad. Year after year
Cambodia is growing, and there are
no record to denied this. And the
real reason why we are here is
to stop your troublemakers from
detering jobs from comming into
Cambodia by smearing our immage
all over shits around the world.
You got the Picture?
Where did you get your numbers every Khmer who works pay their taxes? Have you been lost with reality? What about corruption by all level of government? Are they paying taxes or are they stealing taxes and taking bribes? Why the government takes more than ten years and the corruption law still has not passed? Why didn't they create the department of immigration so that we can control from illegal activities such as gasoline smuggling in Cambodia? Are they paying taxes to the government?
Calm down, mate, if you to know
something about Cambodia, just ask,
and I will do the best I can to
help you find it. No need to assume
that I am lost with reality.
Here is two sites that give all
informations about our taxes.
http://www.doingbusiness.org/ExploreTopics/PayingTaxes/Details.aspx?economyid=33
This site will give you an overview
of how the taxes are collected.
The last row in the table is the
income tax, and the "e)" notation
show that it is witheld from all
employee and send to our tax
department by employers. Thus if
you work in Cambodia, you are
paying tax.
And last is our government's site:
http://www.cambodia.gov.kh/unisql1/egov/english/country.economy.html
Here, if you scroll down to the
bottom, you will get to the
"salary tax" section, and there,
you can learn more about income
tax.
Continuation:
I know many people expected us
to have everything like they have
in the developed countries, but
how can we? we are not yet
developed. What that mean is
we don't have as much revenue
as developed countries, okay.
So don't ask stupid questions.
hey dude! you are really lost with reality. you have not answered any of my questions; instead you provided me with lousy websites that have nothing to do with my questions. you are pathetic. this proves how you and your proud people in cambodian government doing your work. sad but true there are still a lot of people like you out there.
What? you asks me if khmer people
pay tax and I say, "yes."
Where did you think our tax revenue
came from, Vietnam?
What else did I owed you? be direct, will ya?
Now you playing stupid. You said every Cambodian works pay taxes; but you haven't proved me a thing that they are. Perhaps you don't to be trueful with reality about your government's corruption at all levels. You know people are not stupid and you are still refusing with reality. Take a walk!
Well then, tell me what do you want
for proof, idiot?
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