Nguyen Van Sang from Phu Tho Province said he and other workers paid USD2,500 to Inmexco Hai Duong Company to work in Kuwait. His family had to take out bank loans to gather that much money.
According to the contract, Sang would work as a construction worker for two years, nine hours a day for six days in a week. Their jobs are arranged by the employer. His monthly salary was promised to be USD600 and the workers would be entitled to other bonuses and insurance according to Kuwait laws.
"But in reality, we are not given the benefits as stated in the contract," he said.
For the first year, they were given steady jobs but they had to work 10 hours a day and their salary was USD500 a month. Moreover, the employer only paid them once every two to three months. After that, the jobs no long came in as regularly and some of them have to work alternate days.
"The employer withheld USD500 and since they can't arrange work for us, some workers were sent home," Sang said. "When people were sick or had accidents, they weren’t given health insurance as promised or other support."
When Le Van Phuong, Sang's co-worker, had a dispute with the managers about the withheld USD500 and their USD200 pay for extra shifts, he was hit by a metal chain on the head and bled profusely. He went to the Vietnamese Embassy in Kuwait for help.
Le Van Phuong hit on the head
"If they want to return to Vietnam, we'll work to send them home as soon as possible," she said.
According to Mai, the company has received feedback from the employer that many Vietnamese workers violated the rules by brewing illegal alcohol, gambling and working on a go-slow. They had already sent 12 workers home.
Le Ngoc Mai, director of Inmexco Hai Duong Company in Hanoi
On April 12, Sang said Phuong and other seven workers had returned to Vietnam. He said they all had to take bank loans to work overseas to improve their family's finance so it was nonsense to said that they had been on a go-slow.
"We worked hard for one year, then when we were no longer given work, they blame us for violating the rules. If we did commit such violations, we would have been punished by the local authorities. I want evidence to show that we violated the contracts. We are still waiting for the result of the investigation from Inmexco Hai Duong and unpaid salaries," he said.
