In 2023, Lao Dong Newspaper reporters received information about many workers constructing electricity and water items at a project in Hanoi being owed wages for many years. The total outstanding debt at the project amounted to more than 27.3 billion VND.
Sharing with Lao Dong Newspaper at that time, Mr. To Ngoc Dong (residing in Dong Anh commune, Hanoi) said that his construction team of about 50 workers was owed more than 3 billion VND after the project was completed in 2020.
The prolonged debt made the lives of the workers, who were already difficult, even more exhausted. Not knowing where to rely on, many workers continuously came to Mr. Dong's house to demand wages. The pressure was so heavy that the man, nearly 60 years old, who was sick, did not dare to return home.
He choked up and said that in his hometown, his elderly parents still need someone to take care of them. Tet is approaching, but he doesn't know if he can go home or not if he hasn't paid his workers.
In the same situation, Mr. Tran Huy Ha, from Thanh Liem, Ninh Binh, said that in the period 2018 - 2020, he and a team of about 20 workers constructed the electricity and water system at a project in Hanoi.
When the project was completed, it was also when his family's economy fell into bankruptcy. As the head of the team, Mr. Ha had to mortgage the land use right certificate to advance money to workers.
What makes him most regretful is not his own difficulties, but the fact that many workers in the team come from remote and isolated areas, with particularly deprived circumstances. If they are not paid wages, many people will not have money to buy bus tickets home for Tet.
After Lao Dong Newspaper reflected the incident, many workers happily shared that the general contractor and the investor have paid debts to workers; so far they no longer owe wages.
After many days of persistent work, many workers have been paid wages. Mr. To Ngoc Dong emotionally recounted that as soon as he received the money, he immediately shared it with the workers so that they would have money to buy bus tickets and return to their hometowns to reunite with their families.
“I myself also bought some gifts for my elderly parents, partly erasing the hard days,” Mr. Dong said. What makes that worker remember forever is not only the money he received back, but also the feeling of being accompanied by Lao Dong Newspaper, by the Trade Union organization.
In the last days of May 2026, when recounting the old story to reporters, he still could not hide his emotion: "Our Vietnamese people have a saying:'Only through adversity can we understand each other's hearts'. We workers often work hard in the fields, but only when facing difficulties do we deeply understand the strength of the collective. Our rights are legitimate, but if we speak out alone, it is very difficult to protect. When there is Lao Dong Newspaper and the Trade Union organization accompanying us, workers have more faith and strength to protect their legitimate and lawful rights.
