Since the beginning of March 2025, Thanh Hoa has experienced many collective work stoppages due to workers demanding wage increases and improved benefits. Faced with this situation, trade unions at all levels in Thanh Hoa province have quickly intervened to protect the rights of workers, while also ensuring the harmony of interests for businesses.
The domino effect of collective work stoppage
The wave of collective work stoppages in Thanh Hoa began in early March 2025, with the incident on March 1, when 2,670 workers of Roll Sport Shoe Company Limited (located in Tay Ho commune, Tho Xuan district) stopped working to demand a wage increase. The reason was that the company still maintained the basic salary of 4.3 million VND/month, while other companies in the same area had increased their salaries to more than 5 million VND/month. After listening to the workers' opinions and the union's participation, the company's leaders agreed to increase the workers' wages. Therefore, the workers then agreed and returned to work immediately after.
After the collective work stoppage was filmed and posted on Facebook, it received many comments and attention from the online community, especially workers working at FDI enterprises located in Thanh Hoa province. From there, it created a domino effect, causing many workers from other companies to also organize collective work stoppages to demand their rights.
Specifically, on March 3, 3,824 workers at Adiana Shoe Company Limited (located in Xuan Phu commune, Tho Xuan district) stopped working collectively to demand the company increase their salary to nearly 5 million VND, instead of the current level of more than 4.3 million VND.
By the afternoon of March 3, 3,400 workers of PMT Shoe Company Limited (located in Cam Ngoc Commune, Cam Thuy District) had also stopped working collectively to demand a wage increase. According to Ms. Pham Thi Hue - Chairwoman of Cam Ngoc Commune People's Committee, after learning about the incident, on the afternoon of March 3, the company's leaders, together with local authorities and trade unions at all levels, worked, had dialogues, and met the workers' rights.
For the same reason, on the morning of March 4, 700 workers at Hiep Thang Shoe Company Limited (located in Vinh Hung Commune, Vinh Loc District) also stopped working collectively inside the company premises. The incident lasted for more than 2 hours. After the workers had a dialogue with the company representative, they agreed on an increased salary, so the same morning, the workers returned to work.
Then, on March 4, at TMVT Production Company Limited (located in Ngoc Lac town, Ngoc Lac district), there was also a collective work stoppage to demand a salary increase. After the company's leadership approved an increase in the basic salary from 3.8 million VND to more than 4.4 million VND, more than 2,000 workers returned to work.
On the afternoon of March 4, 2,406 workers at Long Thanh Thien Ha Shoe Company (located in Quy Loc town, Yen Dinh district) also stopped working collectively, demanding a pay increase. By March 6, 7,203 workers at Akalia Shoe Company Limited (located in Hai Long commune, Nhu Thanh district) stopped working collectively to demand a pay increase, overtime meal allowance support, etc.
Unions get involved
According to the report of the Thanh Hoa Provincial Federation of Labor, from March 1 to March 7, 10 companies with 25,010 workers stopped working in the province. Specifically, in Tho Xuan district, there are Rollsport Shoe Company Limited, Zheng Ta Company Limited, Adian Company Limited, Comporysion Company Limited; Trieu Son district has Ivory Company Limited; Cam Thuy district has PMT Shoe Company Limited; Ngoc Lac district has TMVT Company Limited; Yen Dinh district has Long Thanh Thien Ha Shoe Company Limited; Vinh Loc district has Hiep Thang Shoe Company Limited and Nhu Thanh district has Akalia Shoe Company Limited.
In addition, in Trieu Son district, there is Sun Jade Company Limited, in Ha Trung district, there is Venus Shoe Company Limited with a total of 14,558 workers showing signs of stopping work, but thanks to the timely intervention of trade unions and local authorities, this situation has been prevented.
According to the reporter's records, the opinions of workers who participated in the recent work stoppage in Thanh Hoa basically affirmed: They participated in the work stoppage because they wanted to increase their salary to the regional minimum level (about more than 4.9 million VND/month). In addition, many workers also said that they wanted the company to increase benefits such as meal allowances, overtime pay, maternity leave, etc.
Ms. Trieu Thi Hang (worker at Hiep Thang Shoe Company, Vinh Loc District) said: After discussing and listening to the opinions of the workers, the company agreed to increase the salary, ensuring the rights of the workers. "My basic salary was increased from 4.5 million VND to 4.7 million VND. Although the increase is not large, it shows that the foreign business owner has listened to the opinions and wishes of the workers," Ms. Hang said.
Sharing the same opinion with Ms. Hang, Ms. Nguyen Huyen Trang (worker at PMT Shoe Company, Cam Thuy District) said: During her work, she had to work overtime at night quite a lot but the overtime pay was not commensurate. Along with that, being constantly pressured, criticized, and required to meet production quotas by the management also made her very stressed, so she suggested that the company should take action to rectify this.
Through the survey of PV, although the situation of work stoppage in Thanh Hoa has been happening continuously in the past week, it has been resolved very quickly, the business owners basically met the conditions put forward by the workers, from increasing wages to increasing regimes, allowances, and treatment of workers. In addition, after the wave of work stoppages of the above companies, a number of other companies in Thanh Hoa province quickly organized meetings, solicited workers' opinions, proactively increased wages, increased regimes, and allowances to prevent workers from collectively stopping work, thereby maintaining stable production, receiving great consensus from workers.
Harmonizing interests between both parties
According to the leader of Thanh Hoa Provincial Federation of Labor, in the recent wave of work stoppages, in Tho Xuan district, Hoa Loi Group had 2 subsidiaries that collectively stopped working, namely Roll Sport Shoe Company Limited and Adiana Shoe Company Limited. Previously, in January and February 2025, during a working session with Hoa Loi Group leaders at Sun Jade Shoe Company Limited and a conference with FDI enterprises at the headquarters of Thanh Hoa Provincial Federation of Labor, the union asked the group's leaders to increase wages for workers, however, the group only accepted the opinions but did not take any action to resolve them.
When Rollsport Shoe Company, Tho Xuan branch, stopped working, the chain effect spread to other companies in the group and even non-group enterprises. "They saw that other companies got a salary increase but they didn't, so they quit their jobs to demand their rights," said Nguyen Minh Canh, Vice Chairman of the Thanh Hoa Provincial Labor Federation.
As of the morning of March 7, only one company has not resolved the situation of workers stopping work. Regarding this issue, the working group of the Thanh Hoa Provincial Federation of Labor is continuing to work with the company to ensure the rights of workers and stabilize production.
Mr. Vo Manh Son - Chairman of the Thanh Hoa Provincial Federation of Labor said: The recent work stoppages were mainly due to workers' demands for wage increases equal to those of businesses in the same industry. This is a legitimate demand, but to ensure harmonious labor relations, trade unions at all levels, especially grassroots trade unions, always accompany workers and businesses, organize dialogues and negotiations to protect workers' rights and maintain stable production.
“With the motto of being proactive, trade unions at all levels in Thanh Hoa focus on preventing and resolving labor disputes, collective work stoppages and disseminating information to workers, while accompanying and sharing difficulties with businesses. Grassroots trade unions coordinate with the authorities and professionals at the same level to implement democratic regulations and enhance dialogue at businesses,” said Mr. Son.
According to Mr. Son, the Thanh Hoa Provincial Federation of Labor has proposed to the Provincial People's Committee and employers appropriate policies to protect workers' rights, especially in foreign-invested enterprises (FDI) to avoid the recurrence of collective work stoppages in the future.
The recent work stoppages were mainly due to workers demanding wage increases that are on par with those of businesses in the same industry. This is a legitimate demand, but to ensure harmonious labor relations, trade unions at all levels, especially grassroots trade unions, always stand side by side with workers and businesses, organizing dialogues and negotiations to protect workers’ rights and maintain stable production.
Source: https://daidoanket.vn/dam-bao-quyen-loi-cua-cong-nhan-truoc-lan-song-ngung-viec-tap-the-10301196.html
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