2,000 Vietnamese workers strike at Taiwan-owned plant

[Omaha Steve]

http://news.my.msn.com/regional/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1174928

About 2,000 workers have gone on strike at a Taiwan-owned textile plant in southern Vietnam, complaining their wages are not keeping pace with rising consumer prices, a labour official said Friday.

The workers walked out on Thursday from the CCH Top company plant in Ho Chi Minh City and kept striking Friday, claiming a new basic monthly salary from January 1 of 1,070,000 dong (about 67 dollars) was too low.

"With the rapid hikes in goods prices ... the salary is not enough for living," said workers' representative Pham Dao Nguyen.

The industrial action was one of several this week in foreign-owned plants in Vietnam, a low-wage economy of 84 million and a major producer of textiles, garments and footwear as well as electronics and food products.

Workplace disputes have risen in recent years, with many strikes before the traditional Tet lunar New Year, which is in mid-February this year, when prices go up and workers need more money to travel home to their families.

Inflation topped eight percent last year, and consumer prices jumped over 12 percent in December compared to the same month in 2006.

FULL story at link.