Foreign firms racked by strikes in Binh Duong
08-AUG-2008 Intellasia | The Saiogn Times Daily page 2
Aug 8, 2008 - 7:00:00 AM
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Thousands of workers at some industrial parks in Binh Duong Province yesterday continued walking off the job after their proposals for a pay rise was denied by the employers. Some 4,000 workers of Kingmaker Footwear Co in the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park in Binh Duong's Thuan An District continued their go-slow action staged since early this month, demanding a rise of at least 100,000 dong (some US$6) per month. However, the foreign-owned company had not approved the demand as of yesterday.
Meanwhile, 10,000 other workers of Shyang Hung Cheng Co at An Thanh Industrial Zone in the same district maintained their stoppage into the fourth day, insisting a pay rise of some 300,000 dong a month.
As observed by the Daily on Tuesday, Shyang Hung Cheng Co posted up a notice telling workers to have a day off on full pay, and promised to give the answer over the workers' request today.
According to Binh Duong's Department of Lab or, War Invalids and Social Affairs, most of the strikes in the province erupted after requests for a pay rise of between 150,000 dong and 300,000 dong a month were not accepted.
Bing Duong has 16 industrial parks with some 1,000 operating manufacturers, attracting some over 450,000 workers.
Meanwhile, the situation in Dong Nai Province nearby is no less siszling, as employers at a meeting on Tuesday with Dong Nai Industrial Zones Authority (Disa) said they were in the hot water when it comes to a wage increase.
Nguyen Manh Van, deputy head of Disa, told the Daily that hundreds of the employers who joined the meeting in Bien Hoa City yesterday said they were trapped in an embarrassing situation when more workers were staging strikes these days, especially in Nhon Trach District.
The enterprises said that the higher prices of many consumer and essential goods have not only affected the workers' life, but also caused many difficulties to the enterprises' production activity, Van said.
According to Van, as many as163 strikes have taken place in Dong Nai in the first seven months of the year, mainly in the industrial parks in Nhon Trach District. The province is home to 24 industrial parks with some 760 operating manufacturers, employing some 300,000 workers.
An official of Dong Nai's Department of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs suggested enterprises to consider an increase in salaries for workers who are seeing their income shrink due to inflation.
"It's better for the enterprises' owners to consider increasing wages for their workers who are suffering from high inflation," the source said.
Van of Disa said the authority would today continue talks with 100 other representatives of the enterprises in industrial parks in Nhon Trach District to encourage them to pay more for the workers as a way to limit and avert the strikes.
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