88 Vietnamese workers left unpaid for 2.5 months in Japan

Chateraise Co. stated last week that the Vietnamese were originally set to begin work at a local factory starting in late February.

However, operational delays at new factories in other areas have required them to stay on hold, Mainichi Japan reported.

The Vietnamese workers include those who had quit their previous jobs to work at the company’s factory.

All of them have residence status and have signed employment contracts with the company, according to Japan Today.

Most of them hold a "Specified Skilled Worker" visa, a status of residence established in 2019 to attract more foreign workers in wake of the labor shortage in Japan.

The Yomiuri Shimbun cited the company as saying that leave allowance will be paid around early July and that all the workers are expected to be able to start work by Wednesday.

Vietnamese workers made up the largest portion of foreign workers in Japan, with their numbers increasing 63.6% in five years to 518,364 as of last year, according to data from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

Vietnam began sending workers to Japan in 1992 for three to five-year periods, with the average income currently reaching US$1,200-1,400 per month.