But it will start later than usual, on Lunar New Year’s Eve, so workers are worried they won’t have time to get home and kick back.
Vietnam’s Ministry of Labor has proposed a 10-day break for the Lunar New Year (‘Tet’) holiday next January, but this has met with criticism from local people who say it will start too late.
Government offices and state-owned companies will close from January 27 until February 5, that is from the last day of the current lunar year to the ninth day of the new lunar year, the Year of Cock.
Schools and other businesses in the country usually follow the same break.
Students in Ho Chi Minh City will have a longer break, of 14 days from January 23 until February 5.
The Year of Cock will peak on January 28, and is the biggest holiday in Vietnam.
A 10-day break would be the longest in years, but the news has not been welcomed by some.
Lao Dong newspaper, under the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, said many people are worried they won’t have enough time to prepare for the festival if they are only allowed to leave work the day before the new year. In previous years, the holiday break started three to four days prior to new year’s day.
The festival is a time for family reunions in Vietnam and is usually the time migrant workers travel home before the Lunar New Year Eve.
Ho Hai Quan, who is working with his wife in Hanoi, said he was “shocked” at hearing about the upcoming Tet break schedule.
Quan said he is worried that there will not be enough time for him to travel home to Nghe An Province, which is 290 kilometers to the south of Hanoi.
Le Nho Luong, labor union chairman at an industrial zone in Binh Duong Province near Ho Chi Minh City, said the holiday would not help workers.
Luong said factory workers, most of them migrants, usually receive their salaries and holiday bonuses on the last working day, which they use to buy tickets and gifts to travel home.
“If the workers have to work too close to the holiday, they won’t be able to focus and won’t be productive,” he told Lao Dong.
“They could make mistakes, and maybe even workplace accidents. The ministry should change the holiday.”
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