Vietnam workers strike at S Korean garment plant
Independent-Bangladesh, BangladeshÂ
Tuesday, 04 March 2014
Agence France-Presse . Hanoi
Nearly 1,500 Vietnamese workers went on strike at a South Korean-owned garment plant demanding more money amid rising prices, and half of them remained off work Monday, a company official said.
The workers at SH Vina Company in southern Long An province walked out last Thursday demanding an additional 150,000 dong (about $10) monthly travel allowance amid high inflation driven by surging fuel prices, he said.
‘Consumer prices have gone up sharply, and fuel prices also went up recently,’ said personnel department officer Huynh Thanh Tra.
‘The salary is not low, but it’s hard for worker to make a living under such conditions.’ Half of the employees returned to work Monday, accepting a new 80,000 dong monthly allowance, but the remainder had stayed away, said Tra.
‘The price increases have had a really bad impact on our workers, and in turn on our company’s business,’ Tra told AFP.
Communist Vietnam is now fighting spiralling inflation, with consumer prices rising more than 15 per cent year-on-year in February, a decade high, driven in part by world oil prices above 100 dollars a barrel.
