Vietnam: Nike workers who average less than $62 a month, go on strike for $12 a month raise

Unbelievable, you get those new kicks for about $100 USD and that one pair pays for a worker and a half for an entire month.

UPDATED-> "Vietnam: Nike strike ends"

From Channel NewsAsia (4/01/08) :

Thousands on strike at Nike plant in Vietnam
Posted: 01 April 2008 2313 hrs

HANOI : At least 15,000 workers at a Vietnam factory that makes shoes for Nike have gone on strike, looking for better pay to cope with surging prices in the country, an official and the company said on Tuesday.

The workers went on strike Monday at the Ching Luh factory in southern Long An province, demanding a monthly pay rise of 200,000 dong (12.4 dollars), or around 15 percent, said Huynh Van Xe from the provincial labour department.

"But management only offered 100,000 more," he said, calling the work stoppage at the Taiwanese-owned factory the province's biggest strike in memory.

A Nike spokesman put the number of striking workers at 15,000, but the Vietnamese official said 17,000 had downed tools.

Strikes are becoming more frequent in communist Vietnam, where consumer prices have risen more than 16 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2008, including for essentials such as the staple food rice.

"We recognise the impact that rising inflation has had on the people of Vietnam," said Nike spokesman Chris Helzer.

"We strongly support the workers' rights to freedom of association and hope the situation will be resolved quickly and amicably."

Nike said the Ching Luh plant was already paying its workers more than the government-set minimum wage of between 800,000 and one million dong per month for foreign companies in Vietnam.

The US sportswear giant said it works with 50 different factories in the country, where about a third of its shoes are produced.

In December, 10,000 workers walked off the job at another Vietnamese plant where goods are made for Nike. - AFP/de

And the US Chamber Of Commerce, when writing on the new Colombian Free Trade Agreement in which the Bush administration is quick pathing through Congress, has the audacity to state on their blog "We believe that free trade IS fair trade and it is time to level the playing field for American workers."

I feel leveled alright, leveled to the pavement.

The Washington Post has another article on this matter via The Associated Press, while the facts are alike there are some differences. You can read that article at "Workers Strike at Nike Contract Factory"

UPDATED-> "Vietnam: Nike strike ends"