Business
Hundreds in Khanh Hoa strike over contracts
  • | laodong, dtinews.vn | September 18, 2020 03:54 PM
Hundreds of workers at a garment company in Khanh Hoa Province went on a strike to protest against a salary cut on September 17.


 

Mai Lan Anh Company Director Nguyen Thi Oanh.


They gathered in front of Mai Lan Anh Garment and Trading Company to demand the owners pay salaries and insurance.

According to the workers, they were paid a monthly wage as per their contracts. However, starting in August, they were suddenly told that they would be paid depending on their productivity. Moreover, some people said they didn’t have labour contracts and there are problems with their insurance.

“We have worked here for over four years and our salary was about VND3.5m (USD150) a month. When we received the August wage, everyone was surprised because we lost VND1-2m,” a worker said. “We were told that we didn’t make enough products as required.”

The previous rate for an extra shift was reduced from VND25,000 (USD1) to VND8,000 per hour. They had many extra shifts in August, some people had worked 62 hours in over time. If they didn't agree to work extra shifts, the company threatened to fire them or close the gates so that they couldn't go home. In addition, the meals for extra shift workers were very poor.

When the workers go to the hospital, they realised that their health insurance cards were invalid.

A worker who is in the eighth month of pregnancy said, "Only when I went to the hospital for a check-up that I knew my health insurance had been suspended and invalid because the company failed to pay for our insurance."

Vice-chairman of Ninh Hoa Commune People's Committee Le Ba Thuan, the communal Labour Union and other agencies held a meeting with the leaders of Mai Lan Anh Company to discuss the problems.

According to the representative of Mai Lan Anh Company, their ways of calculating wages were suitable and the workers didn't understand.

"The contracts clearly state that the workers must follow the company's regulations. Those who don't have contract means that they already quitted," said Mai Lan Anh Company Director Nguyen Thi Oanh. "In early 2020, we paid insurance for 267 out of 300 workers. This number has dropped to 146 people."

Oanh continued saying that the workers' complaints were not right and not everyone will be paid. She would deal with each case.

However, according to the workers, the total number of workers in early 2020 was as high as 500 people. In 2017, hundreds of workers also went on strike because of the lack of labour contracts.

Vice-chairman of Ninh Hoa Commune People's Committee Le Ba Thuan said, "We'll report this to the Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and the provincial people's committee. In the meantime, the company should pay wages for workers in accordance to the contract."

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