[Audio] Workers face "headwinds"

Tinh Loi Garment Company Limited must cut thousands of workers

Prices rise but income falls

In a cramped, dark house in Doc Lap residential area, Ai Quoc ward (Hai Duong city), Mr. Pham Van Tro (born in 1972, from An Lao district, Hai Phong) is busy cooking rice waiting for his wife and children to return. The food he has prepared is only a bunch of boiled water spinach, some white beans and a few eggs. "It's still light so I haven't turned on the lights to save money," said Mr. Tro.

Mr. Tro is working as a kitchen staff at Toyo Denso Vietnam Co., Ltd. (Nam Sach Industrial Park), his wife works at Tinh Loi Garment Co., Ltd. (Lai Vu Industrial Park). Previously, the couple's income was more than 20 million VND/month, enough to cover living expenses and raise children. However, now there is little work, he only works the morning shift, and his wife's work has also been reduced, no overtime, and her income is much lower. Although his family has installed an air conditioner, they only dare to turn it on on very hot days. For many months now, the couple has owed the landlord for electricity and water.

“Now everything is increasing in price, but income has decreased by half. 2 weeks ago, a bunch of water spinach was 5,000 VND, now it is 7,000 VND. Pork has not increased much but it is gradually increasing, at the end of last month it was 120,000 VND/kg of pork belly, now it has increased to 130,000 VND/kg.”

For many months now, Mr. Pham Van Tro and his wife, workers at Toyo Denso Vietnam Co., Ltd., have had to pay their landlord for electricity and water because their income has been halved.

Ms. Vang Thi Kiet has been working at Tinh Loi Garment Company for 5 years now but has never seen her income as low as it is now, due to lack of work. “My monthly income is 7 million VND. At the end of the month, I run out of money. If this continues, I will have to move to another company with a better income,” Ms. Kiet shared.

Mr. Lo Van Ngoc, a worker at Oriental Sports Vietnam Industrial Company Limited (Nam Sach) said that from July 15, he no longer has to work on Saturdays due to low orders. Therefore, his income has also decreased, from 8 million VND/month before, to just over 6 million VND/month now.

Life goes down

Due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the difficult world economy, many domestic enterprises have no orders, especially in the garment industry. According to Mr. Pham Dinh Hoa, Chairman of the Trade Union of Tinh Loi Garment Company Limited, in 2019, the enterprise had 23,000 employees, but since October 2022, orders have decreased, there is less work, now there are only 13,500 workers. The income of workers here has decreased from 13 million VND/month to 7 million VND/month, workers have Saturdays off, no overtime.

Anh Hoa commented: “This is the time when all the troubles fall on the workers. Low wages, while they have to bear all the expenses. Living conditions are increasingly limited because of lack of money. Now that they don’t have to work overtime, many workers go home early to wash dishes for some restaurants to earn extra income to cover their living expenses.”

Many boarding houses still have vacant rooms. In the photo: The boarding house of Ms. Nguyen Thi Mung's family in Tu Minh ward (Hai Duong city) has 10 vacant rooms.

According to landlords near the industrial parks of Dai An (Hai Duong city), Tan Truong, Cam Phuc (Cam Giang), the demand for workers' rooms has decreased by 30-40% compared to the same period last year. Some boarding houses that were full in previous years have up to 1/3 of the rooms vacant this year. Although many landlords have installed air conditioners or reduced room rental prices, few people are still asking to rent. Ms. Nguyen Thi Mung, a landlord in Tu Minh ward, said her family had 30 rooms but now has 10 rooms vacant. Ms. Mung said that many workers used to live in separate rooms but now combine rooms to save costs. Many businesses have reduced or extended working hours, even given workers rotational leave so they work closer to home to reduce costs for rent and travel.

Since July, the increase in salaries of civil servants and public employees has caused the prices of services and consumer goods to increase accordingly. According to statistics from the Provincial Federation of Labor, Hai Duong has more than 30,000 workers who have to rent accommodation, of which more than 90% are from other provinces. Workers rent accommodation mainly in Cam Giang, Kim Thanh districts and Hai Duong city. In addition to the rent, there are other living expenses and other expenses that are more expensive. If in the past, workers had high incomes, they often went out for tea and socializing after work, but now they return to their rented rooms after work. Their lives are confined within four walls.

PV