Workers who returned from Russia on Monday tell Thanh Nien their stories Tuesday morning

They were promised a minimum salary of US$400 a month for working in Russia by the manpower firm Sovilaco.

The 15 workers who returned to Ho Chi Minh City on Monday are among 101 workers sent to work in Russia on January 1 by the Labor Export - Trading and Tourist Company (Sovilaco).

Their employer had abandoned the factory and the workers returned home with the help of the labor agency and the Vietnamese embassy in Moscow.

The workers said Sovilaco has agreed to return just US$1,800 of the $2,650 that each of them had paid for the services and related fees. They want concerned authorities to reclaim their money.

A worker from Gia Lai Province, who identified herself only as B., said she and 46 others were taken to an empty house where a Sovilaco employee told them to stay for a few days before starting to work as tailors.

“The workplace was an old 30 sq. meter room on the second floor that was full of spider webs and dirt,” B. said.

Some of the workers were crying, fearing they had been trafficked.

Few days later, the employer came and asked them to clean up the place, make tables and chairs and install sewing machines before starting to work.

The workers said they were forced to work for a twelve hours a day and were only allowed to eat when their shifts ended.

“Remuneration for a day’s work was not enough to buy a pack of instant noodles,” said Nguyen Thi Dung from Gia Lai Province. “They paid 2 rubles ($0.06) for completing a T-shirt and 25 rubles ($0.75) for a shirt.”

They said the employer did not pay their salaries saying the money had been used for their accommodation and cooking.

The workers said they were left in the lurch after the employer abandoned the place on March 2.

“We had to beg on the street before being helped by authorities to get back to Vietnam,” said Tran Van Duong from Thua Thien-Hue city Province.

“On March 7, the Vietnam Embassy in Russia supported us with 2,000 rubles ($60) to buy food,” he said. “Eight of us shared two packs of instant noodles a day before being brought back home with the assistance of the embassy and Sovilaco.”

Nguyen Hai Nam, director of Sovilaco, said they had signed contracts with Deitrast Company in Russia to supply Vietnamese tailors.

Sovilaco had to bring the workers back home because the overseas company had laid off foreign laborers due to the impact of the global economic downturn, he said.

Reported by Le Nga – Bao Thien