Nguyen Van Toan (30 years old) - a fabric cutter said that since November 2024, his department has had to stay at work until 8pm. By the time they get home, eat dinner, and clean up, it is already past 9pm, leaving no time to teach their children their lessons.
“Before November, I and other workers only worked until 7 p.m. However, when the company receives new orders that must be delivered before the Lunar New Year 2025, all direct production workers must work at least one hour overtime,” said Toan.
Not only in the evening, but also in the morning, Mr. Toan was required to arrive 15 minutes early to work. Instead of taking his child to school at 7am like before, at 6:45am, the couple had to finish everything to take their child to school.
According to Mr. Toan, overtime income depends entirely on the output. Therefore, with more time to work, the salary of male workers is also higher than before, from 500,000 VND to 1 million VND/month.
Working overtime until late at night does not give him much time with his family. However, when he thinks about his increased income, Toan consoles himself: "Working overtime will give him money to pay for his children's school fees. It's tiring, but I still have motivation."
Ms. Pham Thi Tuoi (41 years old) - a garment worker in Thai Binh said that overtime hours are constantly being adjusted to increase, making her feel quite tired.
“In early November, skilled workers like us had to work overtime until 7:30 p.m., in mid-November the company required overtime until 8 p.m., and now at the end of the month the company requires at least one extra Sunday per month,” said Ms. Tuoi.
According to Ms. Tuoi, there are two main reasons why the company often requests overtime. First, there are large orders that need to be shipped out urgently in December. Second, the number of workers is limited, just over 1,000 people, so it is difficult to recruit more workers near Tet.
Regarding income, Ms. Tuoi said that when working overtime until 8pm, female workers are supported by the company with 20,000 VND and a dinner, and an additional 50,000 VND on Sundays. Working overtime for 1.5 hours longer than before and on Sundays also helps female workers earn an additional income of about 1.5 million VND/month.
Sharing about overtime, Ms. Tuoi said she can accept working late at night but does not want to work on Sundays.
“Sunday is a day off to both recharge and to gather with friends and family. I really don’t want to work extra on Sundays because it’s very tiring to start a new work week,” said the female worker.
