VietNamNet - Trade unionists and trade experts share the view that efforts to improve workers' living conditions will help reduce labour strikes, which are on the rise in industrial and export processing zones.

February 27 alone witnessed two workshops on the topic: one in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau by the Confederation of Labour Unions and the other in the northern port city of Hai Phong by the municipal chapter of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Trade unionists in the Ba Ria-Vung Tau event emphasised efforts to solve workers' housing problem. They called on the Government to help in land allocation and tax reduction while employers or provincial authorities should apply house payments by installments.

Vietnam boasts hundreds of industrial and export-processing zones which employ over 1 million workers. A recent survey has shown that 50% of workers in the northern zones and 65.8% in the south have demand for rental houses, but employers have met just between three and 6.5% of the demand.

Meanwhile, trade experts blamed low wages as the major cause of recent labour strikes in leather shoe and garment making industries. They cited the strike by over 5,000 workers from the Sao Vang Company Ltd in the Tan Trang industrial zone, Hai Phong city, on Feb. 17 as an example. The employer paid a monthly average salary of just 700,000 VND, not enough for basic living expenses.

(Source: VNA)