Public interest companies accused of wage theft                                    After a recent inspection, the leaders of four public interest companies in HCM City have been accused of embezzlement from employees' salaries.    HCM City Urban Drainage Company paid its director 41 times the wages of temporary workers The results of the inspection showed that in the HCM City Urban Drainage Company, Public Lighting Company, Saigon Traffic Construction Company and the Green Park Company, the average wage was VND22.2 million per month (USD1,000) while the figure at other state companies was only VND7.3 million. While managers and regular employees collected average salaries, day-labourers and temporary employees were making much less. Workers at Saigon Traffic Construction Company had the lowest average wage of the four, only VND4.5 million per month. Their wages were only 18% of a regular employees' wage and just 7% of that of managers. The workers at Green Park Company had the highest average wage, VND9 million per month in 2012. Still, their wages only amounted to 58% of a regular employees' wage and 17% of managers' wages. The report resulting from the investigation headed by the People's Committee Office identified several financial tricks that were used by management to line their own pockets. The HCM City Urban Drainage Company was found to have violated labour law by signing temporary contracts with 163 regular workers. They also signed fixed-term contracts with 355 workers who were qualified for contracts with an indefinite period. The company saved up to VND10 billion in this way. The Saigon Traffic Construction Company used similar methods to save money, which went into the pockets of higher-ups. The vice chairman of HCM City People's Committee, Le Manh Ha, asked the two companies to renegotiate the contracts so they would be in accordance with the labour law, and in addition to make compensation to employees. The four companies have also been asked to report any irregularities in the gap between salaries and recover money that was wrongfully distributed. The local Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs was asked to work with the Department of Home Affairs to deal with violations of the aforementioned companies. By Hong Tam-Tung Nguyen | dtinews.vn