he strike was taking place as factories in southern Vietnam are facing severe labour shortages.

All 800 workers staged a wildcat strike beginning March 3, said Cao Thi Hoang Tho, an officer at Bando Vina Ltd in the southern Vietnamese province of Tay Ninh.

"Every day, they demonstrated in front of the factory for about an hour, so we negotiated with them," Tho said. "We have fulfilled almost all of their demands, except payment for the days they were on strike."

The company agreed to hike salaries by 10 percent on March 5, as well as increasing other allowances.

On Wednesday, the company issued an ultimatum that workers who had not returned to their jobs on Thursday would be fired.

In fact, no workers returned at that time, but the 400 who turned up Friday morning were allowed to return to work.

"Some of the workers continued to demonstrate at the factory gate this morning," Tho said. "We invited them to come in and talk, but if they don't agree, we will terminate them in accordance with the Labour Code."

Under Vietnamese law, strikes must be approved by local authorities and the government-affiliated national trade union. In practice, virtually all strikes take place without such approval.

The strike was the sixth in Tay Ninh so far this year, according to Vuong Van Lai, vice chair of the trade union's provincial branch.

Striking workers might be taking advantage of widespread labour shortages to negotiate better deals.

Labour officials in industrial provinces in southern Vietnam said they are short tens of thousands of workers as many have failed to return to work from the Lunar New Year's holidays in February. Migrant workers often find better-paying or more convenient jobs near their home villages after the holidays.

According to Vietnam's Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, strikes in Vietnam fell nearly 70 percent in 2009 from 2008. There were 216 strikes last year, compared with 650 in 2008, and 151 of them involved companies in the textile and garment sectors that have foreign investors.

Deutsche Presse Agentur _ March 15