400 staff of Taiwan-invested firm resume work after strike over Lunar New Year bonus

About 400 workers of Taiwan-invested luggage maker King Loy Enterprise in Long An province resumed work Monday after a strike over changes in their Tet (Lunar New Year holiday) bonuses.

The workers, who were recruited from a local business in 2019, had struck work last Saturday. They returned to work Monday afternoon, as soon as the firm agreed to continue the Tet bonus policy of previous years.

Initially, the firm had said that the Covid-19 pandemic and economic slowdown had negatively impacted business orders, called on workers to understand the situation and accept no bonuses or later, less bonus payments than usual.

Later, it agreed to continue awarding annual bonuses of VND6 million ($246) each, a policy it had begun in 2019. The firm also announced that Tet bonuses will be paid for all employees.

At a working session with the provincial labor department and labor union, the firm was told that it should negotiate any policy change beforehand with workers.

Vietnam recorded 60 labor strikes in 2023, down 86 year-on-year, according to the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, the head of all labor unions across the country. The common causes of strikes were disagreements related to wage hikes, delayed wage payments, social insurance payments, Tet bonuses, and work reduction.

According to a preliminary report by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, 61.37% out of 47,374 surveyed firms have said they would pay Tet 2024 bonuses at an average of VND6.85 million ($281) per person, the same as Tet 2023.

On average, the monthly wage of an apparel-textile worker in Vietnam is $330, said CEO Cao Huu Hieu of Vinatex, Vietnam's largest textile and garment maker. He said the figure was the second-highest in the world, only behind China with $420. It was double and triple the wages in India and Bangladesh, respectively; and 1.8 times that of Cambodia.