Authorizing trade union officials to demand wage and social insurance debts
One month after receiving the full amount of salary still owed by Vinh Thong Company, many workers are still excited.
Mr. Le Van Thuan - formerly a worker of Vinh Thong Company - who was previously late in paying his December 2024 and January 2025 salaries by this company with an amount of about 18 million VND and now has received all the owed salaries, emotionally said: "Thanks to the help of trade union officials and the companionship of Lao Dong Newspaper in promptly informing about the case, we have received all the owed salaries for a long time.
As Lao Dong Newspaper has repeatedly reported, Vinh Thong Company is slow to pay salaries to hundreds of workers of the company in December 2024 and January 2025, and is slow to pay social insurance for workers with a very large amount of money. Although workers have repeatedly stopped working to demand salary and social insurance debt, the company still does not pay.
After that, 151 workers of Vinh Thong Company, including many female workers in the prenatal period, authorized trade union officials of the Ho Chi Minh City Labor Federation to sue the company to claim nearly 3.1 billion VND in salary and social insurance contributions with an amount of nearly 4.8 billion VND along with maternity benefits.
The Ho Chi Minh City Labor Federation has sent 14 officials from the Legal Consulting Center and the Trade Union of Export Processing Zones - Industrial Parks (formerly) to act as representatives authorized by workers to sue Vinh Thong Company.
After more than 1 year of overcoming many hardships and difficulties with many court appearances, working with the company and functional agencies, the People's Court of Region 9 - Ho Chi Minh City has issued judgments and decisions recognizing the agreement of the parties that the company will pay wages to workers in 3 installments and pay all social insurance in February 2026.
However, Vinh Thong Company did not properly implement these decisions when only paying salaries in small installments. At this point, Ho Chi Minh City trade union officials again filed a petition requesting the Civil Judgment Enforcement Department of Region 9 - Ho Chi Minh City to apply temporary exit suspension measures to the legal representative of Vinh Thong Company, freeze the company's account at banks or apply coercive judgment enforcement measures according to the provisions of law to ensure the rights of employees and the judgment enforcement obligations of the company.
The efforts of Ho Chi Minh City trade union officials have been partially rewarded when by the end of April 2026, Vinh Thong Company had paid off all outstanding salaries to workers. Regarding social insurance, the company still promised to pay the rest by June 2026.
Lao Dong Newspaper accompanies workers and trade union officials
Accompanying workers and trade union officials in Ho Chi Minh City, Lao Dong Newspaper also continuously monitors information and promptly reflects the developments of the case.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Kieu Loan - formerly a worker at Vinh Thong Company, who has also been paid all outstanding salaries by Vinh Thong Company - shared: "At first, when authorizing trade union officials to sue the company, we were also very confused, not knowing if we could recover the money. But seeing that the trade union officials were very enthusiastic and worried about their work, we became more confident. In addition, Lao Dong Newspaper also continuously inquired about information, with timely articles, making us see the companionship and sharing of the Trade Union organization.
Mr. Pham Van Hien - Deputy Director of the Legal Consulting Center of the Ho Chi Minh City Labor Federation - shared: "In the process of handling the case, we have always received timely direction and encouragement from the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, leaders of the Ho Chi Minh City Labor Federation, helping us have more confidence and resources to protect the rights of workers. The timely information of Lao Dong Newspaper also makes an important contribution to sharing and encouraging us to demand Vinh Thong Company to pay all wages to workers. We will continue to persistently pursue the case so that the company must pay all social insurance for workers in accordance with the law.
