Yamaha motorbike workers in Vietnam go on strike

Jun 13, 2008, 11:24 GMT

Hanoi - More than 800 workers at a Japanese motorbike factory in northern Vietnam have gone on strike for higher salaries, officials said Friday.

The walkout at Yamaha Motor Vietnam's factory outside Hanoi is the latest in a rash of strikes at factories across Vietnam this year driven by galloping inflation, which topped 25 per cent in the year to May.

Workers at the Yamaha plant began striking Tuesday to demand the company raise their salaries by 20 per cent, according to Ha Thu Minh, an officer in the company's personnel department.

Minh said the workers had yet to return to the job.

The striking workers, who receive an average monthly salary of 1.05 million dong (63 dollars), are also demanding the company raise spending on their daily lunches from 13,000 dong (78 cents) to 15,000 dong (90 cents) per meal, according to news website Dantri.

Workers said their current pay is not enough to make ends meet in the face of rapidly rising prices for consumer goods, Dantri said.

'We will not answer their demands until they return to work,' Dantri quoted a company manager saying. 'We have contemplated the worst-case scenario, in which all the workers quit.'

Authorities fear more strikes will occur over the next few months if inflation stays high.

'The pressure of inflation has obviously led to the strikes,' said Pham Minh Huan, Director of the Ministry of Labor's Wage and Salary Department.

Huan said the number of strikes occurring in the first five months of this year was higher than the same period last year.

'In the face of high inflation, both employers and employees should share the difficulties, as not only do prices of consumer goods rise, but also the prices of materials for production,' Huan said.