The Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia has reelected its chairman Van Sou Ieng to serve for two more years as the top representative of the country’s garment industry, officials said this week.
Van Sou Ieng, who has served in the position since 1996, said he will continue to push for an end to illegal strikes.
“I think the most important thing here is to have the industry continuing with no illegal strikes, no stupid demands and no stupid stopping of work,” he said Monday.
With a total of 1,090 unions operating in 295 Cambodian factories, there also are too many unions, he said. “There is nowhere in the world that has as many unions,” he claimed.
Van Sou Ieng, who ran for the position unopposed and was re-elected Sunday, also had tough words for the Free Trade Union, saying the union’s allegation that costly strikes originate from employers disobeying the Labor Law is not borne out by the facts.
“You ask [the International Labor Organization], which claims that 82 percent of employers have been in compliance with the Labor Law,” he said. “It is more than anywhere else.”
In January, GMAC said its members had complained that ILO staffers had allegedly made biased reports on factory working conditions. ILO staff had listened too much to union officials and not enough to the factories, GMAC claimed at the time.
On Monday, Van Sou Ieng called for the ILO to be “more realistic, honest and impartial.”
FTU President Chea Mony said he is happy to continue working with Van Sou Ieng, adding that it is Van Sou Ieng’s job to criticize unions since he represents factories’ interests.
According to Chea Mony, little has improved for Cambodia’s workers in the last 10 years, and he does not expect this to change anytime soon.
“I do not believe at all that reelected Chairman Van Sou Ieng can help better the situation, but I am happy to cooperate with him to solve any problems in the industry,” he said.
Chea Mony also said that violence inflicted on unionists is a more serious deterrent to investors than strikes. “Corruption, killing union members, beating the workers—this is scaring the investors, and not the strikes for justice,” he said.
Hy Vuthy, FTU leader at the Suntex garment factory, was gunned down in Phnom Penh on Feb 24. This marked the third killing of an FTU official since the union’s president Chea Vichea was shot dead in January 2004, which was followed four months later by the gunning-down of Ros Sovannareth, also an FTU leader at a garment factory.
Kong Sang, who was re-elected unopposed as GMAC’s first deputy chairman on Sunday, said no factory wishes for violence against their employees. “GMAC does not want to see any crime,” he said, adding that Hy Vuthy’s death was the result of a personal dispute.
Chhuon Mom Thol, head of the CPP-affiliated Cambodian Union Federation, said he is also happy to continue working with Van Sou Ieng. Under his leadership, the minimum wage has been increased to $50 per month, he said.
John Ritchotte, chief technical adviser for the International Labor Organization’s labor dispute resolution project, said the ILO is working to address complaints raised by GMAC about the ILO’s operations, though he declined to elaborate.
The ILO acknowledges that there is a problem with the number of unions in Cambodia, he added.
“The ILO is looking forward to working with the [Labor Ministry], the trade unions and employers to try and bring some order to the current situation,” he said.
(Additional reporting by James Welsh.)
