Nidec Servo Vietnam, workers disagree on wage hike

Some 1,000 staff of the company went on strike last Thursday over pay and benefit demands. The workers want the factory manager to scrap the flat raise of VND260,000 ($11.10) per month, and instead increase their wages by 6%.

Employees get pminimum wage of VND4.73 million, and those who have worked for 10 years get monthly salary of VND8-9 million.

Workers at Nidec Servo Vietnam go on strike. Photo by VnExpress/An Phuong

The flat increase was disagreed by all workers at a conference held by the company’s union. Over 70 worker representatives disapproved of the plan at a meeting with the company's leadership.

But Nidec Servo persisted in implementing the salary hike on its own, citing pandemic and financial hardship as limiting factors. As a member of Japan’s Nidec Corporation, salary adjustments must be in accordance with the group’s policies, its leaders said.

The company also cut workers’ vacation and year-end bonuses due to losses, a contention that workers have rejected.

"Workers have been longing for a wage hike after three years. The VND260,000 raise can hardly cover fuel costs, not to mention costs of taking care of our parents and children," a worker representative said.

Vietnam regulated that the minimum wage will go up 6 percent starting July 1, two years after remaining unchanged. The increase in pay has been estimated at VND180,000-260,000 per month per worker, depending on four salary regions specified by the government.