Some 1,000 out of over 5,000 workers joining a strike which began on Monday were back to work at Taiwanese-invested leather shoe manufacturing company Viet Glory in Nghe An Province, north-central Vietnam on Friday morning. 

Nguyen Van Thuc, a representative from the Nghe An Province Confederation of Labor, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Friday that these employees returned to work at their factory in Dien Chau District following several dialogues.

The confederation and the firm held multiple dialogues to explain workers’ benefits, while the firm got some opinions of employees and pledged to fix some company policies in the coming time, Thuc said.

These workers walked off the job in demand of higher wages, but the firm explained that it currently offers a basic salary of VND4.13 million ($169.5), well above the VND3.64 million ($149.4) regional minimum wage in Dien Chau District. 

The company also said it was not able to revise up worker salaries, and expected employees to sympathize with the firm.

To stimulate its workers and increase their incomes, Viet Glory raised performance incentives starting from Sunday last week. 

The firm might consider offering workers the 13th month pay and an increase in the number of workers entitled to allowances for working in hazardous conditions.

The workers have taken five days off, while the firm had earlier announced that those who leave work for five days in a month without permission will be terminated.

The Party Committee of Dien Chau District on Thursday organized a meeting discussing measures to deal with the strike at Viet Glory.

Secretary of the Party Committee of the district Ha Xuan Quang tasked the Dien Chau District Confederation of Labor with calling on workers to return to work, and launching the hotline to receive employees’ opinions and complaints.

The solution is aimed at ensuring the laborers’ rights and benefits.

Quang also asked Viet Glory to commit to meeting workers’ reasonable demands.

Authorities in Dien Chau District on Friday morning approached the firm to bring workers back to work, ensuring that no one is sacked.

More than 5,000 workers gathered in front of the company’s factory to join a strike on Tuesday, demanding some labor benefits, mainly higher wages.

Founded in Dien Chau District in 2019, Viet Glory’s footwear manufacturing and processing factory can turn out up to 25 million products per year.

The company currently employs 6,000 workers.

Earlier, workers from the company went on strike after the Lunar New Year holiday in 2021 and 2022 to demand higher wages.

The company later established a labor union in March 2021.

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