According to a report released by VGCL at a Friday meeting, as many as 546,835 workers from 1,300 firms in 50 localities nationwide had their working hours reduced between last September and January this year as their companies faced falling orders.
"Some 75 percent of the affected workers were from foreign direct investment (FDI) firms specialising in three sectors of garment and textile, footwear, and wood processing in some southern provinces including HCM City, Long An, Tay Ninh, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, and An Giang," the report said.
Speaking at the meeting, which was held to review programmes supporting workers during the Tet Lunar New Year Holiday, head of VGCL's Department of Labour Relations, Tran Thi Thanh Ha, said that nearly 90 percent of the affected workers are still given salary while 10 percent have their job suspended or cut without receiving salaries.
According to VGCL, the number of strikes around the 2023 Tet Holiday fell compared to 2022 thanks to better policies from firms and local authorities.
"There were 26 strikes in six localities between December 2022 and January 2023, compared to 51 strikes that occurred in the same period last year," VGCL said.
By the end of January, over 96 percent of workers had returned to work after the Tet holiday, VGCL added.
