Next year

Early in the morning, a few cars with people from the motel rooms at the beginning of the alley, carrying backpacks and luggage, prepared for the journey home. Unemployment, indefinite leave of absence and the chorus of early New Year’s day have been buzzing in the urban neighborhoods these days.

In the last days of the year, the number of workers losing their jobs means that the approaching Tet will be more burdensome for them and family.

A newspaper citing statistics of the General Confederation of Labor Vietnamin 25 southern localities alone, the units and industries whose employees were affected by job losses due to the number of orders cut by businesses were wood processing, textiles, footwear, electronics, food, and more. products, services, tourism… Up to 485 businesses with 631,329 employees were affected.

In Ho Chi Minh City alone, there are 155 businesses with more than 50,150 employees in the area affected. Workers’ incomes have been deeply reduced, businesses are in trouble, it is forecasted that this year’s Tet, there are businesses that will not have Tet bonuses, 13th month salary…

The small village I live in is located right on the edge of the city with many rows of motels for people with low and moderate incomes to live in. This city is not only glittering, but if you go to a neighborhood full of working people, you will see the precariousness that is always present in their lives. The neighbors love each other but share each package of noodles, kilograms of rice, and bottles of soy sauce is real.

We talk about saving the land, rescuing this and that, rescuing something far away, but these poor, sweaty workers, is there any solution to save them and for them? hope in the future? Groups of people who could not stand the unemployment, paid their lodgings early and returned to their hometowns. Some people try to stay on by applying to work as a waiter for a few restaurants. The restaurant is also empty. Normally, they rent a month, now switch to hourly. There are people who register as a technology motorbike taxi, as a delivery shipper, and bite their teeth even though they know that 1 unit will be charged a fee of 20 to 30%. This season, the poor working life encapsulates exactly two words: Lay.

Lay lives to earn a little money to return to his hometown, but for a whole year, he might return to Tet empty-handed. Poor neighborhood, room rent is 2 million, add electricity and water to eat and drink, if you save a lot, you will also lose another 2 million a month. The idea that this number 4 million is easy to find in the most economic city in the country, but it is not. There are some girls in the central region who rent a room, 6 of them share the rent, divide the living expenses, the income is the breadcrumbs roaming around the parks, walking streets, earning from 100,000 VND a day. is glad. This season, hear a lot of lament, so the lament of the poor laborers is like salt from the sea. Touching the bottom, gritting your teeth and holding on to wait for a few 0-dong Tet buses to return to the country.

In the last days of the year, I suddenly noticed that the inn where I lived was reduced by half. In the evening, coming home from work is no longer noisy. Early in the morning it was quieter. The small garden area where my father used to sit and drink coffee with some fruit sellers early in the morning was also empty. Some westerners from the country who brought bananas, oranges, and grapefruits to peddlers on trolleys have now returned to their hometowns. Dad said the guys were too lazy. I’m so sick that I can’t earn enough money to eat…

That’s it, go home to celebrate Tet early. Next year count.