As holidays near, bosses try to coax Vietnam's workers back to factories

Labours wearing face masks work at a private factory after restrictions imposed for the past three months due to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic were lifted, in Hanoi, Vietnam, October 1, 2021. Reuters

HO CHI MINH CITY (NYTimes via The Straits Times/ANN): Miss Thu Trang travelled to Ho Chi Minh City in 2019, ecstatic to get a job at a factory. She worked eight-hour shifts and was guaranteed overtime pay, and the wages were nearly triple what she had made as a farmer back home.

But during a Covid-19 outbreak this summer, the factory where she worked making Adidas, Converse and New Balance shoes virtually shut down. She and her co-workers were forced to live in a cramped apartment for nearly three months, subsisting on a diet of rice and soya sauce.