Strike at japanese factory in Vietnam
HANOI - Nearly 7,000 workers at a Japanese-owned engine manufacturing plant in southern Vietnam have gone on strike, demanding better pay and work conditions, a trade union official said Tuesday.
Mabuchi Motor company in Dong Nai province normally gives its employees an 8 percent annual raise, but the employees want a bigger increase, said Nguyen Van Thang, Vice Chairman of Dong Nai Trade Union for industrial zones. They are also requesting better food at the company cafeteria.
Company officials declined to comment Tuesday.
The workers' average monthly salary is currently $62, higher than the $52 minimum wage required by the government.
Workers at several Vietnamese companies in southern Vietnam have gone on strike recently to demand pay increases.
Last week, more than 3,000 workers at Vinh Tuong, a Taiwanese electronics company, walked off the job, Thang said. Vinh Tuong is also situated in Dong Nai province, some 19 miles east of Vietnam's southern business hub, Ho Chi Minh City.
In early February, 4,500 workers went on strike at a South Korean-owned garment factory in nearby Binh Duong province.
Last year, an even bigger wave of strikes hit companies across southern Vietnam, with tens of thousands of workers at foreign-owned factories stopping work.
In response, the government increased the minimum wage at foreign firms by at least 25 percent.
The Associated Press - March 6, 2007.
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