Far from home to earn money to raise children
Right after finishing her shift, Ms. Le Minh Hue (43 years old) and her friends went to the 2025 Trade Union Tet Market program. She was very happy to receive a discount voucher worth 50,000 VND and said she would look for suitable items to buy at the program.
Previously, when she was still in her hometown of Thai Nguyen, she was a farmer. A few years ago, because her income from farming was unstable and not enough to support her children's education, she decided to work as a worker in a garment factory in her hometown.
At this company, the basic salary is low (3.2 million VND/month), her income is only about 6 million VND/month, and she does not have time to take care of her family, so she quit and went to work as a seasonal worker near her home. She withdrew her social insurance once, receiving unemployment benefits totaling 30 million VND. She used this money to take care of her children's education and family expenses.
Recently, she decided to leave her hometown, accept being far away from her family, and go to Bac Giang to find a job with a higher income. For the past 4 months, she has been working as a garment worker at Crystal Martin Company Limited (Bac Giang).
“I already had the skills so the company hired me right away, without having to go through a training period. Currently, my basic salary is 5,468,000 VND/month; allowance is 1.2 million VND/month. Including overtime pay, my income is about 12 million VND/month,” Ms. Hue said.
With this income, she has more money to send to her second child who is in grade 12 and preparing for university entrance exams. She is over 40 years old but still has to live far away from her family. She said that because of difficult circumstances, she had to accept it; if she stayed in the countryside, she would not have enough money to support her children's education.
Currently, Ms. Hue is renting a room with a nephew who also works as a factory worker. Each month, she spends 500,000 VND on rent. Every weekend, she rides a motorbike, traveling more than 100km, taking 2.5 hours to return to her hometown. "My second nephew is in an important exam preparation period, so I want to go home to take care of him and encourage him," the female worker said.
What Ms. Hue worries about is that she has withdrawn her social insurance once, so at the age of over 40, when starting over, it will be very difficult to meet the requirements for the number of years of social insurance contributions to receive a pension later. "For now, I will work far away to support my family. Later, when I return to my hometown, I will grow crops and raise livestock to make a living," Ms. Hue said.
Many meaningful activities towards workers
Hoang Thi Nga (50 years old) also faces a lot of pressure to make a living at an old age like Ms. Hue. Ms. Nga has been a worker for 21 years. She is currently working at Matsuoka Vietnam Company.
Her life is less difficult than Ms. Hue's because she has a house in Viet Yen town. She said that her total income, including overtime, is 7-8 million VND/month. Her husband is a freelancer, with an unstable income. With the income earned from working as a factory worker, she has to save and manage a lot to have enough to take care of the family. Her eldest child has just finished school, and her second child is entering 10th grade, with many new worries and pressures...
Workers like Ms. Hue and Ms. Nga were even happier to attend the Tet Sum Vay - Xuan On Party Program associated with the 2025 Trade Union Tet Market program for workers organized by the Bac Giang Provincial Labor Federation from January 10-12, 2025.
The program has about 60 enterprises, cooperatives, and business households participating with 100 booths; enterprises, cooperatives, and business households committed to selling good quality products and goods at preferential prices; more than 20 units, enterprises, and business households donated goods to the 0 VND booth for workers.
At the program, the Bac Giang Provincial Federation of Labor allocated funds to directly donate 200 Tet gifts to workers in difficult circumstances (worth VND800,000/gift) and 100 bus tickets for workers from far away to return home for Tet; and provided funds to support the construction of "Union Shelters" for 9 union members (total value of VND320 million)...
Workers also receive legal advice, lucky draw, contest to wrap banh chung and display tray of five fruits for Tet, folk dance, sack race, tug of war; participate in "singing for workers - listening to workers sing"...
