HANOI, Apr.8 – Local authorities will soon conduct more labor inspections in Hanoi’s industrial parks after a series of worker strikes.

In March, 60 Vietnamese workers from Endo Stainless Steel went on strike demanding more pay, subsidies and decreased working hours. “We will launch many inspections of enterprises following signals that workers’ interests have been violated at Endo Stainless Steel Vietnam,” Ngo Chi Hung, vice head of Hanoi Industrial Park and Processing Zone Authority, which manages 18 industrial parks, told Vietnam Investment Review.

Last year, 216 labor strikes were reported with 157 of those held at foreign-invested enterprises and 114 strikes affecting garments and textiles producers. There were 155 strikes in Vietnam’s southern key economic region alone. So far five strikes have been held since the beginning of the year at Taiwanese and South Korean companies.

The Government Inspectorate’s deputy general director Mai Quoc Binh says  management of foreign enterprises operating in the country has remained lax. “The authorized agencies have no strong punishment for violating enterprises and failing to closely examine these enterprises’ operation. Consequently, workers’ interests have been ignored, while localities’ economic development has been badly affected,” Binh said.