HANOI, Vietnam (AP) -- Workers returned to a Vietnamese factory on Monday to make Nike sneakers, one week after a strike over a wage dispute closed the plant.
The plant's 21,000 workers resolved their disagreement with management last week and had been scheduled to return to work last Wednesday after a two-day stoppage. But management decided to close the plant an additional three days after a brawl broke out among returning workers.
Witnesses said the fighting employees had disagreed about the merits of the settlement, under which they received a 10 percent raise -- half what they had requested.
The plant is one of 10 factories in Vietnam that contract with Nike Inc. to produce a total of about 75 million pairs of shoes a year.
About two-thirds of the Ching Luh plant's employees reported to work Monday morning, said Nguyen Van Van, vice president of the trade union of Long An province, where the Taiwanese-owned plant is located. The rest were expected to return Tuesday.
Workers have gone on strikes at many factories in Vietnam recently as rising prices have been squeezing workers' paychecks.
Prices are 19 percent higher than they were a year ago, according to government figures.
In January, the government increased the minimum wage at foreign-owned companies by roughly 13 percent.
The new agreement at Ching Luh raises the average salaries there by an additional $6 to $65 a month.
The Ching Luh plant has been operating since 2002.
