Factory workers in Ho Chi Minh City are stressed out by a combination of factors like low wages, poor standard of living, mundane work, lay-off worries, and limited contact with the opposite sex, and psychiatrists warn a failure to address this will cause social problems.

“I am always feeling inhibited,” N.H.T., laboratory worker at a seafood processing company in the Vinh Loc industrial park, said.

He is just 30 but frequently suffers from insecurity, indigestion, sleeplessness, and tiredness.

He is weary of routinely testing micro-organisms in his lab with hardly anyone to talk to.

“I am tired of my daily routine: working in the morning, coming home in the evening, going to coffee shops and then going to sleep,” he complained.

He is also unhappy that his salary is not commensurate with his work.

“I am not happy with this job since it offers me no prospects for promotion. I will quit it if the company does not change.”

He shows signs of depression, locking himself up at home, losing weight, having trouble with his emotions, and hardly talking to anyone.

L.T.T., 34, has been a garment worker at the Tan Tao Industrial Park for the last 13 years.

She is distressed because her supervisor berates her daily and stressed by the need to earn enough money to support a six-year-old daughter back in her hometown.

And things are compounded by personal problems – she is divorced and has been seeing a man who has turned out be a philanderer.

She stays awake at night, worrying about the problems.

“I have more than once thought of giving up everything,” T. said in a low voice.

Cu Phat Nghiep, trade union chief at the Pou Yuen company in Binh Tan District, said: “It is time businesses took more care of their workers.”

Pham Thi Trang, director of the HCMC Workers Aid Fund, said they should also spend time listening to their workers and help them with difficulties.

Huynh Ngo Tinh, director of the City Workers Assistance Center said: “More social activities need to be made accessible to factory workers.”

The Fund and Center are planning to offer psychological counseling, heath checks, and entertainment for factory workers at the end of the year.

But they would be able to just cater to a small section of workers, both Trang and Tinh admitted.

Dinh Phuong Duy, a psychologist, said if the stress issue is not to be addressed, there will be myriad social problems.

Salary is the best remedy

* Almost 17 percent of factory workers in Ho Chi Minh City are frequently stressed and 60.6 percent are sometimes stressed, a study by psychologist Dao Thi Duy Duyen of 378 factory workers reveals.

The reasons for stress were: poor standard of living (81.1 percent), low wage (75.1 percent), family financial problems (75.2 percent), living away from family (72.5 percent), love issues (69.7 percent), and day-to-day problems (61.7 percent).

* What do factory workers need?

Higher salary (92.9 percent)

A friendly working environment (92.3 percent)

Counseling on stress (81 percent)

Source: tuoitrenews