Workers have stopped working and surrounded the headquarters of Shop-Vac Vietnam Company in Hai Duong Province for many days in order to meet with the leaders.

A worker, Nguyen Thi Thai, 40, said that five days ago she and hundreds of other workers were suddenly asked to stop work to wait for production materials. Some of the company’s leadership have also not appeared on site which made the workers worried.

“We looked for information about the company's branches in other countries and found out that many have gone bankrupt," the worker said. "We are worried that we will not get our salary and insurance payments."

The workers have stopped working and surrounded the company's headquarters for many days in order to meet with the leaders but no one has shown up."

Another worker, Nguyen Thi Cham, 22, said that all 800 workers have paid for social insurance but many of them have not yet received maternity allowances.

Vice head of the Hai Duong Provincial Industrial Zone Management Board, Vu Thi Kim Hang, said that after hearing about the situation, they had come to work with the company and found out that seven leaders who are all foreign had left the area.

"Meanwhile, a Vietnamese manager said that he did not know what was going on or what the company leadership were doing," Hang noted. "We have asked the concerned departments to protect the company's properties and co-operated with local police to search for the leaders."

According to the official, Shop-Vac Vietnam Company started operation in 2013 and with investment of USD 14 million. The company specialises in producing vacuum cleaning machinery.

"The company now owes over VND10 billion (USD434,782) in rent, and also owes the same amounts to workers," the official revealed. In addition, they also owe dozens of billions to their partners and material suppliers which we are further investigating. We will try to resolve the issues affecting local workers". Tienphong/Dtinews