"Overtime should be voluntary but we don’t have a choice. It's difficult to ask for break or take leave for family emergencies."

Formosa textiles firm faces industrial dispute

600 workers at Taiwan's Formosa Textile Company in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province have gone on strike to protest against what they describe as unreasonable regulations.

On June 11, about 600 out of 1,000 workers at Formosa Textile Company went on strike. According to the workers, they work from 7.30am until 12pm and have one hour lunch break. They then resume work from 1pm to 4.30pm. They say the company has forced them to work until 6pm without breaks or additional meals. The workers have also complained about the quality of their lunches, citing they cost only 45 US cents and claiming this has led to health issues.

A worker said, "Overtime should be voluntary but we don’t have a choice. It's difficult to ask for break or take leave for family emergencies."

In addition, the company promised to give a USD14 bonus to outstandingly skilful workers and USD9 for good workers and additional pay for overtime but that promise has not been carried out.

Nguyen Duc Y, chairman of the union of industrial zones in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province said that they had held meetings with local authorities and Formosa to ask them to follow up on their promise to the workers. As the company does not provide an extra meal, the workers have asked for additional pay to cover the overtime.

Chau Van Thang, chairman of Ba Ria-Vung Tau Labour Federation, said the local unions had just been established recently and lacked experience so they hadn't report the case in time. They have sent people to work with Formosa to resolve the case.

Formosa agreed to consider the pay overtime and bonuses for extra output but said they already added the bonus as well as hazardous duty pay to the VND3.1m (USD141) basic wage. The monthly wage workers receive is VND3,480,000 (USD158). - Vietnam Net, 15/6/2016