Alternatives to the “Race to the Bottom” in Vietnam: Minimum Wage Strikes and Their Aftermath

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This case study focuses on strategic mediating roles of labor newspapers. Concentrating on minimum wage strikes from 2005 to 2006, it shows the state’s pro-foreign direct investment policy, tensions between state bureaucracies and labor unions, and their debates. It demonstrates alternatives to the “race to the bottom” thesis. The larger implication is that labor organizing and spontaneous collective actions can be successful even within a one-party state. It remains to be seen how the new strike law ratified in 2006 addresses structural weaknesses of the labor unions and the state, and how it affects labor organizing for workers’ rights and interests.

Original languageAmerican English
Pages (from-to)430-451
JournalLabor Studies Journal
Volume32
Issue number4
StatePublished - Dec 1 2007

Keywords

  • East Asia
  • Vietnam
  • labor union
  • migrant worker
  • minimum wage
  • newspaper
  • socialist state
  • strike law

Disciplines

  • Social and Behavioral Sciences

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