Tet bonus proposed for textile and garment workers

Highly profitable businesses intended to reward their employees one to two months’ salaries on the Tet occasion.

Director Do Van Minh at the Hanoi-based 19/5 Textile Company said the company’s workers would receive a Tet bonus of over VND6 million ($300) each, which was higher than last year.

He noted that setting this reward level was a great effort by the management as like many businesses in the sector, the company’s performance was directly affected by rising input costs.

General director of Hanoi-based Chien Thang Garment Joint Stock Company Ninh Thi Ty unveiled the reward the company would offer to the employees this year would be higher than last year’s, while the exact amount was still withheld.

General director of Saigon 3 Garment Company Pham Xuan Hong said his firm, located in Ho Chi Minh City, managed to offer the labourers VND7-9.5 million ($350-$475) in Tet reward each, around VND1-1.5 million ($50-$75) higher than last year’s thanks to more than 15 per cent jump in the firm’s total export value.

However, he said that except some highly profitable businesses, the Tet reward of many smaller companies in the sector would not be as high because they saw dwindling profits.

A Tien Giang province-based export garment firm spokesperson said his firm would reward the labourers around VND2 million ($100) each only. He added that despite achieving higher export value this year, the company bore rising import-export and services costs.

Similarly, not a few businesses said they would strive to give their employees a Tet bonus similar to last year’s level.

This year was considered a fairly good year for the domestic textile and garment industry when Vietnam’s total export value of the sector posted in the first 11 months of the year reached $10.36 billion, up 22.6 per cent on-year.