Taiwan's Footgearmex Footwear to lay off workers at Vietnam plant
03/11/2022 09:15
HANOI, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Taiwanese shoemaker Footgearmex
Footwear Co. Ltd. is preparing to lay off two-thirds of the
workforce at its Ho Chi Minh City plant, according to a company
announcement to employees, blaming a "drying up of orders and
financial issues".
Vietnam is a major production centre for global brands and
last month the labour confederation in the city said textile,
footwear and electronic factories had lost orders due to
difficulties sourcing raw materials and weak demand.
Footgearmex Footwear, which supplies brands such as K-Swiss
and Timberland Footwear, employees 1,800 people, though is a
smaller player compared with other Taiwanese peers in the
sector.
"We have tried everything we could but are unable to
maintain current production," Footgearmex Footwear said in a
circular to workers reviewed by Reuters. The company said it
would have to terminate the labour contracts of 1,185 workers
from Dec 1.
Phone calls to the company's office in Ho Chi Minh City
seeking further comment were not immediately answered.
Ho Chi Minh City's labour confederation said last month that
many factories in the city had been forced to cut working hours,
furlough staff or begin layoffs.
Vietnam's factory activity VNPMIM=ECI in October fell for
the second straight month to 50.6, although official data showed
footwear exports in the month rose 5% against September.
A representative for Taiwan's Pou Chen Corp, one of the
world's biggest manufacturers of branded sports footwear, said
its operations in Ho Chi Minh City were running normally.
(Reporting by Phuong Nguyen
Editing by Ed Davies)
((phuong.nguyen@thomsonreuters.com; +84-24-3852-9623;))