Over 2,700 HCMC workers to receive 13th-month salary bonus as Korean factory closes before Tet

The Korean parent company has approved the payout, with disbursement expected in January.

Truong Van Phong, deputy head of the HCMC Exporting Processing and Industrial Zones Authority, on Dec. 30 said the bonus will be calculated based on each worker’s basic salary, currently averaging around VND7 million ($266).

Panko Vina’s union said the factory has completed its annual production plan and workers fulfilled a full 12-month cycle, meeting conditions for the year-end bonus.

The decision comes after initial support for the shutdown was only VND2 million per person, which many workers felt was insufficient.

“This is practically an extra sum for workers to have a Tet celebration,” Panko Vina’s union chairman Nguyen Thanh Hoang said, noting that securing the 13th-month salary was one of the workers’ top concerns when layoffs were announced.

Besides the bonus, Panko Vina has agreed to several proposals to support affected workers, including paying January 2026 salaries based on the new regional minimum wage, ensuring full benefits for pregnant employees or those on maternity leave, and assisting with social insurance procedures so workers can transition to new jobs smoothly.

Panko Vina has been present in Vietnam for more than 23 years, once operating one of the region’s largest garment plants in My Phuoc 1 Industrial Park in the former Binh Duong Province with over 8,000 employees at its peak. However, declining orders and a strategic relocation to Da Nang led to the factory’s HCMC closure plan in early February 2026.

Following the shutdown, seven enterprises within the same industrial park have registered to recruit over 2,700 Panko Vina workers.