Tet may not be one to remember for workers

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Firms are yet to declare bonus figures for Tet, however, the executives of many firms told VIR Tet bonus this year would be meager amounts due to a hostile business climate.

Vinh Cat Trade Services Company Limited deputy director Nguyen Quoc Han said his firm’s Tet bonus might possibly be halved against last year.

A trade union official in the railway sector said many labourers had quit jobs due to low wages amid escalating product and service costs in the past year. “It is really a hard task to offer the labourers a decent Tet bonus in current context of uncertain economy,” said the official.

According to deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Pham Minh Huan, the ministry sent dispatches to localities asking management to report on the Tet bonus situation.

Huan, however, said Tet bonuses would not be encouraging. “Businesses have their backs to the wall, so how can they offer their labourers high bonus,” said Huan.

“We just came to survey some firms in the area and found they were in a more critical situation than in previous years. Bonus reward mechanisms are there, firms can set their bonus based on actual business performance,” said head of Quang Ninh Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Department’s labour section Do Thi Xanh.

Xanh assumed most firms would still offer their employees an extra month’s salary.

Huan  encouraged other localities to follow the example of Ho Chi Minh City Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs which had joined efforts with trade union organisations at various levels to negotiate with firms to raise labourers’ bonuses.

A construction firm director said: “Rewarding workers with a Tet bonus is a way to have labourers dedicate themselves to company development.”

The firm would maintain Tet bonus at last year’s level plus 10-15 per cent price depreciation though the firm saw 50 per cent nosedive in sales and profit figures compared to last year.