Workers at My Phong garment firm in the southern province of Tra Vinh return home after working hours. Photo by VnExpress/Chau Thanh

My Phong textile company in the Mekong Delta of Tra Vinh Province, which makes leather shoes for export, decided to terminate the contracts of 10,142 workers on Tuesday.

Tet, the Lunar New Year, is the country’s biggest festival which peaks on February 5.

A company spokesperson said the reason for the mass dismissal is that its partner in the U.S. has gone bankrupt, affecting nearly 70 percent of its export contracts.

Local authorities immediately dispatched officials to meet the management to safeguard the legitimate rights of the workers.

The company promised to fully pay the laid-off workers their January and February salaries, holiday bonuses and unemployment benefits in accordance with labor laws to ensure they are able to go home and celebrate Tet.

It also agreed not to sack around 600 women workers who are pregnant or on maternity leave.

The province’s labor union is working with vocational centers and local companies requiring human resources to help the dismissed workers find new jobs after the holiday.

This is only the latest instance of foreign companies in Vietnam’s southern industrial zones absconding or sacking their workers before Tet. Some did so to avoid paying holiday bonuses.

Last year more than 1,900 workers at Texwell Vina Company in Dong Nai Province were left jobless after their South Korean director and 11 managers left Vietnam before Tet, leaving behind unpaid salaries and social insurance premiums of VND31 billion ($1.37 million).