Up to 70,000 workers at two shoe manufacturing plants operated in Ho Chi Minh City by Pou Yuen, which is controlled by Yue Yuen Industrial Holdings, staged a rare six-day strike, protesting against new legislation on social insurance that is due to be implemented in Vietnam next year. All but 10,000 workers reportedly ended the strike on April 2 after the company persuaded Vietnam's vice minister for labor, Doan Mau Diep, to recommend a change in the law by the National Assembly.
Apparently, the stoppage didn't delay deliveries to big clients such as Adidas, Asics, Nike and Puma. It came after more intense labor unrest that affected Yue Yuen's Chinese factories in Dongguan a year ago and in March, but for different reasons. In the most recent case, Yue Yuen's employees in Dongguan were protesting against the merger of two factories, fearing that the production would be transferred to Vietnam. The company reassured them that this would not happen.
In Ho Chi Minh City, the workers were opposing new regulations that would have forced them to wait until their retirement to cash in the social insurance premiums related to their jobs, in the form of a monthly pension. Expressing fears that the country's social security system could be mismanaged, the union representing the shoe workers is demanding instead a continuation of the present system, whereby workers get a lump sum when they quit their jobs. The money is often invested in a house or a new business.
According to just-style.com, which follows sourcing issues closely, the legislation would be amended by giving workers a choice between an immediate payment and a pension. Its editor, Leonie Barrie, feels that such a compromise may have been driven by fears that many factory workers would leave their jobs before the new law goes into effect, to collect their social insurance payments immediately.
