Hanoi gets unionist sacked because of union membership

[UBBV 15/01/2007 protectVietworkers.com] The Committee to Protect Vietnamese Workers has sent money to financially support a VIU union member, Dao Van Thuy, who on 07/01/07 was interrogated by the Hanoi regime’s police then sacked by his employer on the police’s command. The CPVW also calls on Vietnamese to take part in supporting other unionists who may be subject to similar tactics by the regime in the future.


The regime’s economic harassment aims to get rid of the recently-formed independent unions, VIU (Vietnamese Independent Union), and UWFA (United Workers and Farmers Association), formed in October 2006, as well as to prevent others like them from forming in future.

HANOI AND BOSSES EXPLOIT WORKERS

Under the Hanoi regime, for the last many decades, there have been no independent unions, but only so-called “unions” formed and run by the Communist Party, which also runs the Hanoi regime.

Without independent unions in their way, the regime has been free to work with employers, both foreign-owned and state-owned, to exploit workers. The regime sets the minimum wage which foreign-owned companies must pay, at 45-55 US dollars a month. Most pay no more than these wages, which are regarded as laughable by many.

Millions of workers work under terrible conditions. Workers at the KeyHinge factory in Da Nang, which makes toys in McDonalds’ Happy Meals, say that they must work 12 hours a day or be sacked. They also say that the bosses treat them like animals. State-owned companies treat their workers even worse. Workers at the Song Da Construction company, have to carry bags of soil weighing 60-70kg, about 10kg than their own weight. Mr. Luke Donnellan, a Victorian MP in Australia, who went to Vietnam in March 2006, recalled one case where a workplace machine stripped a piece of skin off a worker’s head, but he was told to show up for work the next day or be sacked. Also, not only did the employer not pay worker compensation, they actually penalised the worker for going home after the accident.

During 2005, hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese workers participated in hundreds of strikes. From mid-2006, the Hanoi regime sent its police to break up strikes, and harass strike organisers to prevent further strikes. From October 2006, when the above independent unions were formed, the regime has imprisoned a number of their founding members such as Nguy?n T?n Hoành, Tr?n th? L(tm) H?ng and harassed the rest. On 12th January, it arrested one more, Tr?n Qu?c Hi?n, spokesperson of UWFA.

Now, the regime starts its psychological and economic terrorising of the unions’ first members, to prevent others from joining.

PLEASE FUND VICTIMS DIRECTLY

If overseas Vietnamese communities are successful at neutralising this economic terrorising by the regime, then many people can join independent unions. Once the numbers are large enough, the regime will be unable to continue harassing union members. Also then, the independent unions will be strong enough to start protecting workers’ rights.

This week, the CPVW started sending money to Vietnam to do its part in neutralising the Hanoi regime’s tactic. At the moment, the CPVW’s funds come from personal contributions by its members.

It is expected that in the future, the financial needs will exceed the CPVW’s means, when the Hanoi regime widens its harassment campaign to include other new and upcoming members of independent unions.

If you want to help them, you can give money to them directly. Please go do protectVietworkers.com to register your interest. When the need arises, we will contact you tp put you in direct contact with the unionist who needs your help. You can help them for a fixed period such as 1 month or 3 months, or for an indefinite period until they are able to help themselves.

PLEASE HELP YOUR OWN LOVED ONES

You can also encourage your own family members or friends in Vietnam to join independent unions (protectVietworkers.com assist them to do this). In that case, when they need your help, it is your own loved ones whom you help.

CPVW also calls on you to tell your loved ones that you will replace their lost wages if they participate in strikes, so that they can join future strikes if any. A number of strikes have proven effective. In the case of the Happy Meals workers, after last year’s strike, the employers promised to reduce the hours to 8-10 hours a day and increase pay by 1.5 US cent an hour.

CPVW was formed on 30/10/2006 by the Warszawa Conference to assist Vietnamese workers in their struggle to stand up for their rights. -/- [CPVW 13/01/2007 www.protectVietworkers.com]

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