Hai Dang's working hours in Yen Phong Industrial Park, Bac Ninh have changed from rotating to any day or night shift, depending on power outages.
Le Hai Dang, 30, is a technician at a company that produces mobile phone cases. He had to cancel a weekend outing with his friends to make up for his day off earlier in the week because of the power outage. Dang's work schedule changed from a fixed weekday to "working days, off days" on June 5 when the company's power went out from early morning until the afternoon.
For the past two days, he has been switched from day to night shifts because the company has to mobilize production to meet orders. Working against his biological clock has caused the young man to fall asleep on the company's shuttle bus from Bac Ninh to Hanoi.
"What time and day to work depends entirely on the electricity, so we have to wait for the HR to notify us half a day or the night before. It depends entirely on the electricity," Dang said. To be ready for his shift, he always brings a few sets of clothes to the company in case he has to stay at work. In eight years of working, this is the first time Dang has had consecutive days off due to a power outage, but he doesn't know if he will be paid for the days off or if it will be cut into his vacation.
A company's factory in Dai Dong Industrial Park (Bac Ninh) was dark for 3-5 minutes before switching from grid power to generator power. Photo: Phong Linh
"Only the electricity industry knows whether we can work these days or not," said Nguyen Thi Thu, a worker at Yen Phong Industrial Park. On Monday, the factory lost power when the production department was preparing to work. After waiting for more than two hours without the power coming back, the manager had to let the workers go home. For Thu, having a day off is more miserable than going to work because she cannot sleep in a 15-square-meter rented room with a corrugated iron roof and is "steamed" all day under the 40-degree heat.
More than 10 industrial parks in Bac Ninh with nearly half a million workers working in enterprises are experiencing a difficult summer due to a lack of electricity for production. On June 3, at a meeting with Bac Ninh provincial leaders, many enterprises reported the lack of electricity and sudden power outages causing production errors and heavy losses.
A representative of a company specializing in manufacturing phone cases in Yen Phong Industrial Park said that the power outage on June 1st caused the machines to suddenly stop, causing all products to fail. A day later, the company still allowed workers to go to work because they had not received any notice from the electricity company, but in the middle of the day, the power went out and the entire workshop had to leave.
Another company in Que Vo Industrial Park said that sudden power outages can easily cause expensive machinery and components to break down and products to become defective. Thousands of workers will have to change their work schedules, causing great damage. "Power outages need to be planned and prioritized not to occur in industrial parks," the company's representative suggested.
Mr. Ho Sy Linh, labor manager at Foster Company Limited (Bac Ninh) lamented: Every few days the company has a power outage, each time for half a day, sometimes without notice, forcing 3,000 workers who have arrived in full force to leave. This electronics company runs four generators continuously but can only maintain 50% of the production line. The generator's operating cost is 9 million VND per hour, which increases if it has to operate continuously.
According to Mr. Linh, workers currently have to work in shifts or make up for the weekend if there is electricity, and the company still pays them full wages. However, after experiencing a decline in orders and entering days of "unstable" production due to electricity, workers' income "will certainly decrease, reaching only about 6 million VND per month".
Workers at Quang Chau Industrial Park (Bac Giang) leave mid-day due to a power outage. Photo: Contributor
Similar to Bac Ninh, Bac Giang is also in a state of power shortage. In the first three days of June, the province's electricity consumption increased by more than 41% compared to the same period last year. At the electricity supply conference on June 5, the province proposed adjusting the electricity supply plan for 20 days, prioritizing daytime production and nighttime for people's daily activities, and then adjusting it depending on the situation.
Therefore, businesses will produce from 7:45 am to 5 pm every day and will be provided with continuous electricity. Businesses with urgent orders will register with the Industrial Park Management Board and only produce from 0 am to 5 am.
Mr. Nguyen Van Tan, Chairman of the Hosiden Company's Union (Quang Chau Industrial Park), said that the amount of electricity at night only meets 5% of the demand, so the company has asked more than 5,000 workers to stop working night shifts and return to work 8-hour shifts from June 5. This month's orders returned 1.5 times higher than last month's, and workers had only worked overtime for two weeks when the power shortage caused output to fall.
"To avoid being fined, the factory has to prioritize urgent production orders, but productivity and output have still been halved, and workers' incomes are also at risk of decreasing," said Mr. Tan, adding that the salary of workers without overtime is only over 6 million VND, and after this power outage, it could decrease by another 30%.
The 2019 Labor Code stipulates that if an employee has to stop working due to an electrical or water problem that is not the employer's fault; or due to natural disasters, fires, dangerous epidemics, hostilities, relocation of the working location at the request of a competent state agency, or for economic reasons, the two parties must agree on wages. Specifically: if the work stoppage is less than 14 days, the wage must not be lower than the minimum; if it is more than 14 days, the two parties must agree but must ensure that the wage for the first 14 days is not lower than the minimum.
Hong Chieu
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