A foreign director of a Japanese factory in the northern Vietnamese city of Hai Phong stirred a public backlash after firing two workers using a ‘scissors by the neck’ image.

During a recent working session with the Trade Union of Hai Phong Economic Zone, precision machinery manufacturer Iiyama Seiki Vietnam pledged to have its director make a formal apology by Tuesday to two former employees Trinh Quang Vinh and Nguyen Van Thuan.

Vinh and Thuan submitted their letters of resignation to the company leaders on September 23 and were approved by the director, who was not named in Hai Phong authorities’ press release, the same day.

Following the approval, the director, however, wrote a message about dismissing the two employees and stuck it on the company’s bulletin board with an attached picture showing a hand holding a pair of scissors ready to cut off a man’s head.

The message read that these employees had “very poor labor skills, no prospects of improvement; [and they] did not fulfill their duties as required by labor regulations.”

Many offended employees filed a report to the company’s labor union chairman.

They also claimed that the foreign director often entered restrooms and the staff rooms to take pictures and upload them on the company’s internal portal without permission.

The workers called these acts 'oppression' that do not align with Vietnamese law.

Hai Phong trade union officials, after meeting with the company leaders and the two workers, said the former did not comply with labor regulations by sticking up the notice after giving both employees permission to quit the job.

The obscene image was against the law and caused anger among workers, they said, adding the company director had violated regulations by entering restrooms and the staff rooms without permission.

Labor authorities have required Iiyama Seiki Vietnam to convene a company meeting to address the issue by Friday this week.

Iiyama Seiki Vietnam was founded in 2012 and has 85 employees, according to the website of its Japan-based parent firm Iiyama Seiki Co. Ltd.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!