Report shows labor law violations, human rights infrigement
By Jhoo Dong-chan
Korean companies in Vietnam are accused of exploiting workers and imposing unbearable working hours at factories where local employees often experience physical and verbal abuse, according to a report.
The Korea Transnational Cooperation Watch (KTC Watch), a network of human rights NGOs based in Korea that monitors the nation's multinational companies' businesses, released the "2014 Field Investigation Report on Korean Multinational Corporations' Human Rights Practice: Vietnam," Monday.
The report was written in December with the help of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor (VGCL). The KTC did not disclose the names of the companies in question, saying that its members did not visit all the Korean companies in Vietnam and that it would be unfair to disclose names of only some of them.
About 3,000 Korean companies are operating in Vietnam.
According to the report, there were approximately 800 strikes at Korean companies in Vietnam between 2009 and 2014, accounting for 26 percent of the country's total strikes at companies.
Most of the strikes took place because the firms did not abide by Vietnam's labor rules.
Unpaid or underpaid wages was one of reasons for the strikes, according to the report.
The Federation of Labor (FOL) in Ho Chi Minh City reported 18 strikes in Korean companies in 2014 alone. Some of these took place after companies failed to raise the wages according to the increased minimum wage or to provide promised bonuses.
There were also some cases in which employers ran away without paying the wages in full.
Another reason for strikes was long working hours at Korean companies.
One Korean company in Phu Nghia Industrial Complex in Ho Chi Minh City forced employees to work 110 to 120 hours of overtime a month.
In one case, employees worked from Saturday 8 a.m. to Sunday 8 a.m. Another Korean company in Bac Ninh Province forced employees to work for 20 hours a day.
There were also cases where some Korean employers even restricted the use of restrooms at work.
According to the report, some workers were forced to stand facing the wall, or had their wages cut because they "went to the restroom too often."
Another Korean company with over 500 workers in Ho Chi Minh City allowed only one restroom access card in its production line, preventing more than one person to use restroom at a time.
Also, some Korean employers were notorious for bad manners.
A Korean company in Bac Ninh faced a strike because some Korean managers insulted Vietnamese workers by yelling and throwing products to the floor.
"The Vietnamese government has turned a blind eye to Korean companies' violation of its labor law because it acknowledges the decisive role of foreign investment for its economic development," said Kim Jong-chul, a lawyer at Advocates for Public Interest Law, a member of KTC Watch.
"We need to monitor Korean multinational companies' overseas operations more properly as a responsible member of the international community."
By Jhoo Dong-chan
Korean companies in Vietnam are accused of exploiting workers and imposing unbearable working hours at factories where local employees often experience physical and verbal abuse, according to a report.
The Korea Transnational Cooperation Watch (KTC Watch), a network of human rights NGOs based in Korea that monitors the nation's multinational companies' businesses, released the "2014 Field Investigation Report on Korean Multinational Corporations' Human Rights Practice: Vietnam," Monday.
The report was written in December with the help of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor (VGCL). The KTC did not disclose the names of the companies in question, saying that its members did not visit all the Korean companies in Vietnam and that it would be unfair to disclose names of only some of them.
About 3,000 Korean companies are operating in Vietnam.
According to the report, there were approximately 800 strikes at Korean companies in Vietnam between 2009 and 2014, accounting for 26 percent of the country's total strikes at companies.
Most of the strikes took place because the firms did not abide by Vietnam's labor rules.
Unpaid or underpaid wages was one of reasons for the strikes, according to the report.
The Federation of Labor (FOL) in Ho Chi Minh City reported 18 strikes in Korean companies in 2014 alone. Some of these took place after companies failed to raise the wages according to the increased minimum wage or to provide promised bonuses.
There were also some cases in which employers ran away without paying the wages in full.
Another reason for strikes was long working hours at Korean companies.
One Korean company in Phu Nghia Industrial Complex in Ho Chi Minh City forced employees to work 110 to 120 hours of overtime a month.
In one case, employees worked from Saturday 8 a.m. to Sunday 8 a.m. Another Korean company in Bac Ninh Province forced employees to work for 20 hours a day.
There were also cases where some Korean employers even restricted the use of restrooms at work.
According to the report, some workers were forced to stand facing the wall, or had their wages cut because they "went to the restroom too often."
Another Korean company with over 500 workers in Ho Chi Minh City allowed only one restroom access card in its production line, preventing more than one person to use restroom at a time.
Also, some Korean employers were notorious for bad manners.
A Korean company in Bac Ninh faced a strike because some Korean managers insulted Vietnamese workers by yelling and throwing products to the floor.
"The Vietnamese government has turned a blind eye to Korean companies' violation of its labor law because it acknowledges the decisive role of foreign investment for its economic development," said Kim Jong-chul, a lawyer at Advocates for Public Interest Law, a member of KTC Watch.
"We need to monitor Korean multinational companies' overseas operations more properly as a responsible member of the international community."
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