A factory that makes shoes for Nike in Vietnam has been shut after scuffles broke out at the end of a two-day strike over salary grievances, officials and the US sportswear giant said Thursday.
More than 15,000 workers went on strike on Monday at the Ching Luh factory in southern Long An province to demand a monthly pay rise of 200,000 dong (12.4 dollars), saying they needed better pay to cope with spiralling inflation. Strikes are becoming more frequent in communist Vietnam, where consumer prices have risen more than 16 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2008, including for essentials such as the staple food rice.
Union official Nguyen Thi Dung said the strike ended Wednesday after workers agreed to the management's offer of a raise of 100,000 dong a month. But Mai Thanh Khai, chief labour inspector for the province, said minor clashes had broken out when some employees refused to go back to work, forcing police to intervene.
The manager of the Taiwanese-owned plant was forced to temporarily close the facility and workers were given three days off, the inspector said. "The Ching Luh factory is remaining closed until management is confident that all workers support the negotiated settlement," Nike spokesman Chris Helzer said Thursday.
"We have been encouraged by the open dialogue occurring between factory management and the trade union, and we hope the union can facilitate a safe return to work for all factory employees based on an agreed-upon settlement."
"It is important to recognise that this situation reflects economic pressures in many industrial sectors throughout Vietnam," Helzer said. Most strikes in Vietnam occur in the south, in and around the country's commercial capital Ho Chi Minh City, but rarely last more than a few days, given that unions remain under the control of the communist authorities.
Nike said it works with 50 different factories in the country, where about one-third of its shoes are produced. In December, more than 10,000 workers walked off the job at another Vietnamese plant where goods are made for Nike. The company said the workers at the Ching Luh plant were already being paid more than the government-set minimum wage of between 800,000 and one million dong per month for foreign companies in Vietnam.
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