Vietnam Nike Factory Workers Strike For Wage Increase

Nike sports shoes, about 10 thousand workers from Vietnam's TaeKwangVina factory, called for a pay rise in November 29th (2007). The workers protested that their salary was too low to keep up with the rising price index in Vietnam.

South Korea's TaeKwangVina factory is located in the southern part of Vietnam's Nai province. It is one of Nike's 10 sportswear factories in Vietnam. The 10 generation factories produce about 75 million pairs of sports shoes every year, and the output of TaeKwangVina factories is 10%.

The factory was hit by a general strike in December 2004 when 5000 workers refused to go to work, causing serious financial losses to the company.

Inflation in Vietnam has reached 9.5% this year, according to KieuMinhSinh, a trade union member of Tong Nai province. The average monthly salary of the TaeKwangVina factory is 1 million Dong Dong (or about 62 US dollars), 20% higher than that of the Vietnamese workers' lowest salary. TaeKwangVina

KieuMinhSinh, a trade union representative who tried to quell the dispute, explained that in view of the excessive inflation in Vietnam, it is hard to blame too much labour demand.

Although the Vietnamese government has promised to raise the minimum wage level by about 12% from January next year, union officials say that the wage increase seems unable to make up for the expected high inflation rate in the coming years.