Vietnam will not face more labour strikes this year as the country has already overcome the worst of the global economic crisis, a senior government official said Monday.
"Of course labour strikes will still happen, but the number and size of the strikes are expected to be smaller this year," Pham Minh Huan, Deputy Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, told Dow Jones Newswires.
Huan said this year's economic conditions appear to have improved from the last, and that enterprises and local authorities are in closer cooperation in preventing strikes.
Huan's comments came after a state media report said Monday that Vietnam may face more labour strikes this year, citing Nguyen Dinh Cung, Deputy Director of the Central Institute of Economic Management, which comes under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
Cung was quoted by the Vietnam Investment Review as saying "the economic situation in Vietnam and the world is expected to be tough in 2010," and this will likely result in more strikes at enterprises, especially at foreign- invested firms that offer inflexible salaries to employees.
The report cited figures from Huan's ministry as saying that the number of labour strikes in Vietnam last year fell 70% from 2008 to 216, with 72.7% of them having taken place at foreign-invested companies.
Vietnam not seeing more labour strikes in 2010 - official
Vietnam will not face more labour strikes this year as the country has already overcome the worst of the global economic crisis, a senior government official said.
Source: Dow Jones
