VietNamNet Bridge – From now to late September, a total of 8,426 foreign workers,mostly Chinese, will be hired for a huge steel project in the central province of Ha Tinh invested in by the Taiwanese group Formosa.

Foreign workers at Formosa construction site.

Ho Anh Tuan, head of the Management Board of Ha Tinh Province Economic Zone, said in July Formosa had submitted to the Ha Tinh People's Committee a list of 28 contractors who want to recruit 8,426 foreign employees.

After checking the records, the province has approved the request of a number of contractors.

So far, about 600-800 foreign workers have come to the Vung Ang Economic Zone, the home of the Formosa project. The remaining laborers will come to the province by the end of September.

According to Tuan, the foreign workers include professionals, technical workers, and managers, not unskilled labor. The contractors observed the local rules on recruitment but they could not recruit suitable employees. The official said most of the foreign workers will be Chinese.

He said foreign workers will be strictly managed. They will live in boarding houses of Formosa. They must have the local government’s permission to rent a house outside the Vung Ang Economic Zone.

Tuan said after the riots in May, the management of labor in Vung Ang Economic Zone has been tightened. Workers must have work permits and cards to get in the the zone.

At this moment, the Vung Ang Economic Zone has 34,161 workers, including 3,547 foreign workers (1,913 Chinese). Formosa alone has 2,288 foreign workers, including 1,799 Chinese.

Lao Dong