LABOUR-VIETNAM:
Wildcat Strikes Pay Off
Aaron Glantz and Ngoc Nguyen

HO CHI MINH CITY , Jan 17 (IPS) - More than a dozen strikes by more than 40,000 workers in Ho Chi Minh City's export processing zones have forced the Vietnamese government to raise the country's minimum wage by nearly 40 percent .

The hikes -- up to 55 US dollars a month in Vietnam's two biggest cities, 50 dollars in mid-sized cities, and 45 dollars in the rest of the country -- show increased frustration among workers who are only allowed to affiliate with a single, government-run trade union.

Two dozen workers at Ho Chi Minh City's Danu Vina factory enjoy beers and a beef hot pot after a hard days work. But even with the wage increase, they'll still earn less than two dollars a day making stuffed animals which are sold in the U.S. by Hallmark, Disney, and Starbucks.
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Change your ways, or no WTO, US warns Vietnam
By Aaron Glantz and Ngoc Nguyen

HANOI - Vietnam's attempts to enter the World Trade Organization (WTO) have been blocked by what the country's negotiators say are unacceptable new demands by Washington that the socialist country change the way its economy works - more than it already has.

So far, Vietnam has embraced capitalism cautiously to lessen the gap between rich and poor among its 77 million people, 69% of whom still subsist on agriculture.
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posted by American AM @ 12:55 AM