On the occasion of September 2nd this year, Ms. Nguyen Thi Tam - a worker at My Phuoc Industrial Park (Binh Duong) - had 4 days off. During these 4 days, the female worker spent most of her time in the boarding house instead of going back to her hometown.
Sharing the reason for not returning to her hometown, Ms. Tam said that she wanted to take advantage of the holiday to rest and recharge before starting work. This decision was also supported by Ms. Tam's family.
“Traveling by motorbike from Binh Duong to my hometown usually takes 5-6 hours, especially when there are traffic jams, which is very tiring. Just going there and coming back takes up the whole day. While we are struggling and Tet is coming, I and some workers in the same boarding house chose to stay in the city to rest, both to save money and to regain strength after a period of hard work,” said the female worker.
Besides resting, Ms. Tam also spent some time with other colleagues who did not return to their hometowns to go out around the city and organize meals at the boarding house. Most of the entertainment venues chosen by female workers and colleagues are free locations, which can be reached by bus to save money.
“Although I can’t go home this holiday, I still have trips with my colleagues and can rest comfortably and recharge my batteries. In the following days, I will try to work hard to save money to go home for Tet and reunite with my family,” Ms. Tam shared.
While most of her colleagues took advantage of the National Day holiday to return to their hometowns, the family of female worker Ngoc Han (from Dong Thap) remained in Binh Duong to do seasonal work .
“Currently, my family of four is working in Binh Duong. The cost of each trip back and forth for the whole family, especially during the holidays, is nearly 2 million VND. Not to mention the distance from the bus station to home is about 30km. Therefore, during this holiday, my whole family stayed in Binh Duong to find seasonal work,” said the female worker.
Ms. Han said that while her father and younger brother worked as temporary security guards, she and her mother worked as hourly maids. After working for 4 holidays, the amount of money the female worker's family earned was more than 1 month of her basic salary.
“My father and younger brother are paid 300,000 VND/day; my mother and I receive from 90,000 - 110,000 VND/hour, depending on the amount of work. Although the salary is quite attractive, because the cleaning work is hard, my mother and I each only take on 2 houses/day (about 4-5 hours) with income ranging from 400,000 - 550,000 VND/day. Calculating the salary and adding the customer bonuses, over the 4 holidays, my whole family earns about 6.5 million VND,” said Ms. Han.
In addition to overtime, Han's family also arranges to go out and eat in the city. After deducting all these expenses, the remaining money from overtime during the holidays is saved by Han's family to spend when necessary.
