Workers are longing for the day they return to work. (Photo: SGGP)

Orders abundant, labor insufficient

Two weeks ago, Ngo Van Thanh, a worker of Vy Chau Company in District 7 in HCMC, called the Fellow Countrymen Association of Soc Trang Province in HCMC to ask for its support to help him and his wife, who is 7-month pregnant, to return home. When there was a program to bring people back to the province, Thanh stayed, and only his wife returned to their hometown.

“The company has just announced that it is preparing to resume production and calling for workers to register. I have stopped working for nearly three months. Now, I am so happy to hear that I am going to return to work," he said. Thanh is one of hundreds of thousands of workers of many businesses who are happy to hear that their companies will resume production.

Not so lucky, Tran My Linh, a worker from Phu Yen Province at Linh Trung 2 Export Processing Zone, returned to her hometown when her company temporarily suspended production due to the pandemic. Lately, her team leader announced on the Zalo group that her company was making a list of eligible employees to return to work, so she also applied but did not know how to return to HCMC.

“I had the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine when I was at work. Now, it is time for the second dose, but I cannot register for injection in my hometown nor go back to HCMC. The company is calling for workers to return to work, but I do not know what to do," Linh said.

To prepare for the restoration of production, in mid-September, Vy Chau Company informed its units to contact workers and calculate the number of workers eligible to return to work. “Most employees were vaccinated with the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine, but nearly 30 percent of workers have returned to their hometown, some are Covid-19 patients, and some do not reside in the green zones. It makes the company unable to have enough workers when restarting production,” Mr. Dinh Tuan Kiet, Chairman of the Trade Union of Vy Chau Company, said worriedly.

As a food enterprise, Vinh Thanh Dat Food Company is preparing to enter the peak production for the Tet festive season, with abundant orders. However, the company now faces a serious labor shortage, although it has been carrying out the three-on-site production model.

Mr. Truong Chi Thien, Director of Vinh Thanh Dat Food Company, said that the company has a modern machinery system, but it faces a shortage of 50 percent of employees. As a result, the maximum capacity is only 70 percent compared to before and cannot meet the requirements of the current orders.

Meanwhile, Mr. Truong Tien Dung, General Director of APT Company, informed that all the employees had had two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, but it is still difficult to meet the four-green requirements requested by the city.

Mr. Truong Tien Dung said that in the process of restoring production when returning to the new normal, enterprises would face many difficulties, including testing cost, scarce raw materials, price increase, labor competition, increasing labor cost. Not to mention that enterprises will have to train their employees again to arrange into positions with a labor shortage in production lines.

Solving the vaccination problem 

HCMC currently has 17 export processing zones, industrial parks, and high-tech parks, with nearly 1,600 enterprises and more than 320,000 workers. In which, more than 820 factories have halted operations, with nearly 245,000 workers having to temporarily stop working. Many employees were worried about the developments of the Covid-19 pandemic in HCMC, so they returned to their hometown to avoid the pandemic.

According to statistics, since July, the HCMC Department of Transport has coordinated with localities to bring 33,000 people back to 34 provinces and cities, besides the number of workers returning to their hometowns by their own vehicles. It has caused labor shortages in most sectors and industries.

Nguyen Dung Textile and Garment Company in District 12 prepares for workers to return to work when they have received two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine. (Photo: SGGP)