Trade Unions and NGOs

The Phnom Penh Post reports that the Kingdom (Cambodia to you) has passed its first laws on trade unions. It seems that big manufacturing is a new thing to Cambodia, but I might be wrong about that. I think garment manufacturing is the main big industry.

The aim of the law is to set out the restrictions on the rights of workers to organise. Unions have to register and receive certification from the Labour Ministry, on top of this they have to provide all financial reports. The legislation also outlaws "illegal strikes". According to Rong Chung, the union leader (don't ask me what that means) "the freedom of the unions will be ended". There was a wave of strikes in September based on the garment industry which centered on the call for higher wages.

This is all very strange because I had not noticed that Cambodia had problems with workers earning too much or having too many rights.

Here is a pie graph of the distribution of international NGOs in Cambodia.

Now for the poke with a sharp stick
Meanwhile, the Non-government Organisations (NGOs) are everywhere. The internet tells me that there are over 200 international NGOs and then hundreds more local NGOs. There are do-gooder westerners (yes, including me) running around providing every manner of social welfare. You just can't move without bumping into another charity, or organisation when working in Cambodia. I do not know if it is the world's most aid dependant country, but there is a huge international wave of religious or soft core social welfare organisations.

Meanwhile, the Cambodian government officials line their pockets. The Ministers for Education own private universities and schools, the top health administrators own clinics and hospitals, the graft and corruption starts at the top and goes all the way to the bottom. At the bottom you have people paying medics to treat dying children but the medics are employed to treat them anyway. You have people paying teachers for private coaching in order to pass the test, but the teachers are paid to teach them anyway. Often the low level teachers and medics are on a beneath subsistence wage, so they have to make a living somehow.

Few NGOs want to support radical causes or workers' rights, even at the most basic level. It is not as nice as saving orphans. There is a certain apolitical naivety amongst the NGOs, and only the party poopers bring a hard core political discussion to the dinner table. All good people, doing their little bit in woeful circumstances; so asking the hard questions is no fun.

I have been happy with my voluntourism. To be honest, I have had a great time, seen and done things that I would never have experienced. (That is about it though I think.) Others think differently about it; so be it, pass the bread.

Here I must say that I am greatly indebted to Su B from Battambang. We had the pleasure of really challenging conversation and more than a few good laughs. Just when I thought I could not make sense of anything much, she literally walked past my window at the teachers' college and later helped me at least confirm some deducations and questions.