Workers do not follow dispatching companies from Vietnam
Speaking to Lao Dong reporter on December 24, Mr. Dang Sy Dung, Deputy Director of the Department of Overseas Labor Management (Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs), said that the group of about 150 workers involved in this incident were mainly engineers and technicians who went to Japan without going through dispatching businesses from Vietnam.
Laborers go to work in Japan from two sources: one source goes from Vietnam without going through dispatching businesses; the second source is businesses in Japan that recruit workers in Japan themselves.
“This group is owed wages for September and October 2024. In fact, the employer has paid wages to the Japanese dispatching company. The dispatching company has not paid the workers. Officials from the Labor Management Board and the Vietnamese Embassy in Japan have gone to the locality and instructed the workers to resolve the matter in accordance with the procedures,” said Mr. Dang Sy Dung.
Mr. Dung added that it is not difficult for Japanese enterprises to directly recruit workers from Vietnam as engineers and technicians, and workers can apply for visas directly through the embassy.
"Only the group of unskilled and manual workers sent by Vietnamese companies will be required to go through the enterprise, so any incidents or problems will be easy to grasp and resolve," said Mr. Dung.
Maximum support for workers
According to Mr. Dang Sy Dung, for now, the Labor Management Board in Japan has provided rice for workers to cook; at the same time, it has supported the procedures for workers to file lawsuits to claim their rights. The authorities must wait for the dispatching company to go through bankruptcy procedures so that the State can pay salaries on behalf of the workers using the frozen assets of the dispatching unit.
Currently, a group of workers has transferred to a new employer and will receive their normal salary in December; the remaining group is continuing to file complaints and lawsuits, and the Labor Management Board in Japan will continue to work with them to resolve the matter.
Speaking to reporters at noon on December 24 from Japan, Mr. Phan Tien Hoang - Head of the Labor Management Board, Vietnamese Embassy in Japan - said: "The Embassy is urging relevant Japanese agencies to request companies to pay outstanding wages to Vietnamese workers. In case the company cannot pay, the procedures will be accelerated so that workers can receive their wages through the use of the wage debt payment system. At the same time, there will be specific and practical support for our workers to overcome difficulties due to not receiving their wages."
According to Mr. Phan Tien Hoang, there are currently no specific statistics on the amount of salary owed to the Board of Directors because Japanese authorities are investigating and making statistics.
The Vietnam Labor Management Board in Japan informed that in case the dispatching company declares bankruptcy, the competent authority will freeze the company's account to pay a portion of the salary in advance to the workers. If the money in the account is not enough to pay the salary, the provincial government will switch to the Government's debt repayment system. In case of switching to the Government's debt repayment system, the workers will be paid a maximum of 80% of the last 3 months' salary. Most workers are owed two months' salary.
