Drum rolls

Lap

Today I want to re-tell my experience at the Sam Yang Company (Translator's Note:  shoe factory for Nike Corporation  in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam).  I started in October 1995.

Interviewer

Please tell us your name

Lap:

My name is Nguyen Thi Lap., I worked for Sam Yang company.  employee number 11204.  I joined the company in October 1995.  In March 1996, I was promoted to section leader of Sewing Line No: 15.  At the time, the company only has 15 sewing line.  I was the leader for the sewing line number 15.  Since then, I have contributed a lot to the company.  I was given bonuses and awards. 

For example, when the company started a program to encourage people to finish their quota faster, I was ranked the Number 1 worker for the year.  I was given $7 Million Dong (Translator Note: $530 USD)

Today I want to talk about my current problem with the company, how it treated me, how the Korean manager treated me.  I went to work sick one day.  I asked for a sick leave.  The manager told me that as a section leader I cannot take sick day.  I know my responsibility as a section leader is to get the section to complete the quota, but there were just too much over time.  In Feb & Mar (1998), I worked 113 hours of overtime.  For several weeks in a row, I worked over 18 hours of overtime.  In one month, I worked two Sundays overtime in  a row..  no day off for 3 weeks)

When I became sick, I went to the clinic.  The doctor said that I have fever of 37 degree C..  On the  Sunday the 29th while working overtime, I was working very hard and being sick at the same time, so I got a really bad headache.  So I put my hands on my head.  The manager then hit me in the arm.  After the manager hits me, I could not work so I went to the nurse to take the rest of day off.  I took another day off the Monday.  When I came back on Tuesday,  the personnel manager Tran said that section leader cannot take sick day, and demoted me to become a sewer.  But the plant manager did not let me sew.  Some day they made me cut threads, some day they made me do pressing (?) and continued to move me around from one job to another. 

So I filed a complaint with the union and asked the union resolve the conflict.  During the time while waiting for the union’s action, they make me do very menial work.  Let me tell you, I was a section leader overseeing 50 workers.  Why do they have to punish me this way?  Why don’t they recognize my past contribution to the company?  There were times they make me mop the floor on the second floor.  because I was a section leader, I am too ashamed to carry a bucket of water and so I asked a friend to take the bucket up for me.

While I was mopping the floor, I was crying.

Lap starts to cry.

Interviewer

Do you think the treatment was related to the interview (translator note: with ESPN)?

Lap

When the union asked me to do the interview,… right before I did the interview, the manager told me that since I’m an employee of this company I should said nice thing about the company, that the company is currently facing problems.  After the interview, the manager (Bak) called me up and asked me what I told the reporter.  I told her that I only talked about wages.   She asked me if I told the reporter whether the company still beats workers. As soon as she questioned me, she asked me to leave.  

After the interview, I was asked to lead another sewing line in a different plant.  But the people the company staffed the line were not experienced sewers and they were trainees.  I told the manager that without experienced sewers, it’s going to be hard to get the quota done.  The manager told me that it would take time for people to gain experience.  I told the manager that it would be hard for me to complete my quota with only trainees.  The manager assured me that she understood the situation. 

So it’s hard for me to understand where I did not do a good job, I don’t know how I could not anything wrong as a section leader.  I know that the company was watching me.  They have people followed me around.  The next person who supervised that same line, the one with trainees and the worst sewers did the same amount as I did.  The line was staffed with only 40 sewers not 50, and most of the sewers are not experienced.  They were from other sections: pressing, gluing and were definitely not sewers.

The personnel manager Tran told me that if I don’t want to work in different jobs, then I should quit  But I did not want to quit and did not sign the paper that day.  Two days later they keep punishing cruelly me to the point when I cannot take it any more.  So I signed the paper to quit.

Do you still wants to work at that place?  Did they force you to quit?

I just want my job as a sewer.  I don’t want them to punish me by making do menial works, switching me to different jobs.  My hand were getting swollen from repairing the shoes and their punishment.  So I asked the union to resolve the problem. 

Lap is crying

(while crying) It’s not like I did not work hard for the company.  It’s not like I just work and get my monthly paycheck.  I have accomplished a lot as an employee there.  I started in October and was promoted to section leader in March.  I spent many days working overtime.

On Sunday I was sick.  On Monday I took the day off.  Even though I was not well, I went back to work on Tuesday because I am afraid of losing my job.  As soon as I entered the plant, the manager asked me “why I took the day off?”.  I told the manager that I was sick.  He yelled at me and cursed at me, and said that he does not need me as a section leader.   Then he made me sitting down to sew. 

The workers are mainly concerned with wages.  We want to have the new contract to be based on floating US dollar rate and not on a fixed rate.  In the previous contract, the wages was pegged to the US dollar on fixed rate and the dollar went up and we lost a lot of money.  That contract was signed in 1997.

In 1997, the company made every worker signed the contract individually and we were told to sign the contract or sign a letter or resignation.  After many workers signed the contract, we realized what happened and went on a strike.  The contract was eventually approved by the union but it was not done under fair conditions, it was done under a threatening condition.