Up to 3,000 Vietnamese workers have gone on strike in a Taiwan-invested factory in the latest industrial action to hit the country in recent weeks in demand of higher wages, an official said March 12. The workers walked off the job March 9 from the Green River Wood and Lumber company in Binh Duong province near the industrial hub of Ho Chi Minh City.
"Workers who have been with the company for two to three years demanded a raise of their basic monthly salary which is now 790,000 dong ($50)," said provincial labor arbitration official Bui Quang Trong
Vietnam -- an economically booming country with a large pool of cheap labor among its 84 million people -- has emerged as a major manufacturing hub and exporter of textiles, footwear and electronics. The strike was the latest in the industrial south in recent weeks, with thousands of workers also downing tools at a Japanese-owned engine plant, a Taiwanese electronics company and a South Korean-owned garment factory.
Last year, a major wave of strikes hit foreign-owned companies across southern Vietnam, with tens of thousands of workers demanding higher pay.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2007
