Interviews
Workers go on strike for better wages to fight inflation
04 Aug '08
2 min read
Thousands of workers gave vent to their deteriorating conditions by going on strike and demanding higher wages to cope with inflation which has surged by nearly 27 percent this year.
Workers across the industrial chain in Vietnam have been hit hard by a double digit inflation that has been fueled further by a recent hike of 31 percent in petrol prices and in turn increasing cost of all essential commodities.
Repercussions were seen all across the country as some 170 strikes took place in the first seven months of 2008 and it goes without saying that all of them had two reasons in common – low salary and bad working conditions.
Some 50,000 labors put down tools on August 1 at Kingmaker footwear plant in Vietnam-Singapore industrial zone in southern Binh Duong Province near Ho Chi Minh City.
A similar instance took place at Hamlin garment company where over 700 workers went on strike on July 31. Although, the companies did agree to raise salary by about VND100,000 per employee, workers refrained from coming back to their respective jobs.
Additionally, over 1,000 workers have been on strike since July 31 at a South Korean owned factory in Long An Province.
In order to bring about a solution to the existing problems, the Vietnam Labor Federation will submit a proposal for raising national minimum wage. Surprisingly, the upheaval came about despite an increase in minimum wage with effect from January 1 this year. Wages were raised to 540,000 dong for state employees, to 620,000 dong for workers in state-owned companies, and to between 710,000 and one million dong for workers in foreign-invested enterprises.
Workers across the industrial chain in Vietnam have been hit hard by a double digit inflation that has been fueled further by a recent hike of 31 percent in petrol prices and in turn increasing cost of all essential commodities.
Repercussions were seen all across the country as some 170 strikes took place in the first seven months of 2008 and it goes without saying that all of them had two reasons in common – low salary and bad working conditions.
Some 50,000 labors put down tools on August 1 at Kingmaker footwear plant in Vietnam-Singapore industrial zone in southern Binh Duong Province near Ho Chi Minh City.
A similar instance took place at Hamlin garment company where over 700 workers went on strike on July 31. Although, the companies did agree to raise salary by about VND100,000 per employee, workers refrained from coming back to their respective jobs.
Additionally, over 1,000 workers have been on strike since July 31 at a South Korean owned factory in Long An Province.
In order to bring about a solution to the existing problems, the Vietnam Labor Federation will submit a proposal for raising national minimum wage. Surprisingly, the upheaval came about despite an increase in minimum wage with effect from January 1 this year. Wages were raised to 540,000 dong for state employees, to 620,000 dong for workers in state-owned companies, and to between 710,000 and one million dong for workers in foreign-invested enterprises.
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