Increasing shift meal allowances
In early March 2025, Amara Vietnam Shoes Company Limited (Nam Dinh) decided to increase food allowances for employees. Accordingly, each shift meal will be adjusted to increase from 20,000 VND to 25,000 VND. Currently, the company is paying for meals directly for workers to eat and drink by themselves. With the new increase, Ms. Nguyen Thi Man (45 years old, Nam Dinh) - a worker working at the company shared that she can eat more fully and richly with nutrients than before, whether eating out or cooking by herself.
"A meal outside the company with all 3 dishes including food, vegetables, and rice is only 25,000 VND, but it is quite a lot, I probably can't handle it all" - Ms. Man said.
This female worker works overtime for more than 10 hours/day, so she is entitled to 2 shift meals, with a total support of 50,000 VND. However, Ms. Man only eats one meal at the company, the rest of the meal is snacked with banh mi and sticky rice, so she saves a lot.
On March 12, 2025, Kiara Garments Vietnam Co., Ltd. (Nam Dinh) also decided to adjust the lunch allowance for employees. The meal rate is adjusted from 17,000 VND to 20,000 VND, applied from April 1, 2025.
When she learned that the company had adjusted the lunch allowance, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong (30 years old) - a garment worker at the company - could not hide her joy. " 17,000 VND/person but cooking for the group is quite complete. Increasing it to 20,000 VND, I think there will be more fruit or more food in the meal" - Ms. Hong said.
The female worker said that lunch plays a very important role for workers. Because it is an manual labor labor, if the meals are not large enough in quantity and ensure nutrients, it will be very fast to starve, and work efficiency will also decrease.
Improving meals for workers
Since March 2025, Pro Sports Hong Thuan Factory (Nam Dinh) has consulted with workers and decided to add improved meals for workers to choose from. Instead of eating rice like usual, workers at the company will have more options to eat vermicelli, fish, meat or cheese with dessert.
Mr. Nguyen Van Quan (27 years old) - a weathermer at the company - said that the improved meals, whether noodles or rice paper, are still very full. "If we eat rice every day, it will be very boring, but since there are other dishes added, we can choose according to our preferences, very excited about the time to eat" - Mr. Quan shared.
Ms. Le Thi Hien - Deputy Head of Human Resources Administration Department of the company - said that improved meals are worth the same as regular meals: 20,000 VND. This initiative is widely supported by workers.
Sharing more, Ms. Hien said, in the summer, hot weather, the Executive Committee of Trade Union will coordinate with the company to deploy side meals for workers such as black bean tea or lemon juice. The amount of extra meals deducted from the Trade Union Fund and the Company Fund, does not affect lunch capacity.
"The meals are diverse and nutritious to help workers feel secure in their work and achieve high productivity" - the female deputy head of the department informed.
