WORKERS in Vietnam's foreign joint ventures are facing growing insecurity, the state press warned yesterday, in a signal that overseas investors may face a new trade-union drive for more laws, higher wages and better conditions.
Many workers face little more than three months' job security, with few contracts, minimal safety and health insurance as applicants queue to take their jobs, according to reports following a recent national trade union review meeting. The official Vietnam News newspaper said the government should create more detailed and strict regulations for joint venture owners, covering outline contracts, training and union formation nationwide.
In several provinces, foreign-employed workers were 'continually on the verge of losing their jobs', one report said.
'It is easy to fire employees and replace them with many other employees who want to try their luck in these joint ventures. Most trainees who want to join . . . work very hard at first. After a while their productivity declines, because of the low salary. Applications pile high on employers' tables, enabling them to dismiss the previous trainees.' Shop unions were hampered by a lack of contracts, which meant any attempt to strike would lead to workers losing their jobs.
The National Assembly last June passed Vietnam's first laws aimed at clearing the way for unions to function in the free market.
It gave workers the right to forms shop unions and to strike, but in a controversial move it did not reintroduce the minimum monthly wage of US$50. The wage at present stands at $35.
The assembly moved to curb a surging number of on-the-spot strikes against severe conditions well under minimum standards, including alleged beatings in the case of one South Korean company.
