Copyright 1997, Agence France Presse
Small investors take Vietnam labour rights back to the 19th century
by Chris McCall
Feb 07, 1997
HANOI (AFP) -- Cowboy firms making a quick buck from Vietnam's open door policy are forcing a litany of demeaning 19th century practices on their workers, who are increasingly leaving in disgust, labour officials say. Tu Le, a senior official with Vietnam's main trade union umbrella body, characterises the firms concerned as "small investors who don't want to operate in Vietnam forever".
Small firms from South Korea -- a country recently paralysed by a wave of strikes to protest a controversial new labour law -- are being singled out as the worst culprits. But Taiwanese and Hong Kong companies have also been criticised. Le details a range of grievances, including pay cuts for minor "mistakes" like talking while working or failing to say hello to the boss. "Some workers may see their whole salary disappear for some very small fault," says Le, who heads the legal department at the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour.
Not so long ago a job in a foreign-invested joint venture was seen as a dream job by many Vietnamese. But now, fed up and stressed out with the working conditions, many are returning to jobs in the state sector where they are often paid just as much and treated better. Some 15 percent of foreign companies in Ho Chi Minh City do not pay social security as required by Vietnamese law, Le says, and between 10 and 20 percent have no trade unions.
They "intentionally do not understand" Vietnam's law on the minimum wage, Le says, which is set at 45 dollars a month for foreign firms operating in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and lower elsewhere. In some factories, workers can go to the toilet only once during work hours. Other criticisms include arrears in paying salaries, failure to allow workers the four days off a month they are legally entitled to, and making workers accept contracts to produce a given number of goods in an impossibly short period.
According to figures published by the Lao Dong union newspaper, 73 strikes occurred in Vietnam in 1996, an increase of 22 percent on 1995. Most of the strikes were at foreign-invested firms. Phan Duc Binh, deputy director of the legal department at the Ministry of Labour, says in general the employers have themselves to blame. "For most of the strikes the fault is on the employer's side," Binh says. Binh says the firms concerned do not follow Vietnamese law, partly because after setting up operations they contract foreign nationals who are not familiar with the laws they are supposed to abide by.
As the most frequent criticisms have been levelled at South Korean firms, Seoul's representatives in Vietnam have taken steps to improve the situation. Total committed South Korean investment in Vietnam reached 2.4 billion dollars in 1996. The consulate in Ho Chi Minh City, where most South Korean firms operate, has had the Vietnamese labour code translated into Korean and is encouraging firms to introduce Korean language classes for employees. A labour attache has been appointed. Attache Park Deuk Whan says progress has been made but much remains to be done. "Labour relations have to be improved very much," said Park.
Consul Lee Nam Soo puts some of the problems down to the language barrier, as many South Korean managers have to speak to their Vietnamese staff through interpreters.
Incidents involving South Koreans have included one in which a woman manager lined up and hit a number of her employees. The company was prosecuted and the woman forced home after receiving a three-month suspended jail sentence. But the 200-dollar fine imposed on the firm would not be considered a major deterrent by many overseas concerns.
Vietnamese officials insist that such problems do not occur at every firm and in particular that larger companies doing business in Vietnam normally abide by the rules. And they insist Vietnam is keen for contact with foreign firms and the chance to learn from its more developed neighbours. But Le adds a word of warning. "Those management skills that insult the employee we cannot use," he says.
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