Rubber workers' village - a place to realize the dream of escaping poverty of hundreds of ethnic minorities

From no income to an average salary of more than 10 million VND/month

At more than 8:00 a.m., at Cu Bi Team 3 of Ba Ria Rubber Joint Stock Company (Chau Duc Commune, Ho Chi Minh City), nearly 20 Thai and H'Mong workers were waiting to pour the boxes of white rubber latex onto the vehicles.

Mr. Chang Xeo Cu (23 years old), team leader of Group 1, Team 7, shared that he and his wife came from Xi Man district, Tuyen Quang province to work as workers here for more than 3 years. Before, they only worked in the fields, and their lives were lacking. Now, the average monthly income of the couple is 23 - 24 million VND, with peak months reaching more than 32 million VND after deducting insurance.

His family was arranged a room in the Cu Bi 3 Team Rubber Workers' Village and supported with monthly living expenses. When life was stable, he brought his father, mother and younger brother-in-law to work at the company.

Recently, his family was proposed by the company's Trade Union, the Vietnam Rubber Trade Union supported 50 million VND to build a "Union Shelter".

"My family has truly changed our lives by becoming rubber workers" - Mr. Chang Xeo Cu said.

Mr. Ly Xeo Vang, a H'Mong ethnic group, said that he and his wife have only worked at the company for more than 3 months. Previously, in Xi Man, my family lived in a simple house and land, only farming enough to eat, without income. Now, the couple earns an average of more than 20 million VND per month. In June 2025 alone, the total income of the couple and their 21-year-old child working at the same company reached 48 million VND.

Trade unions coordinate with companies to recruit and care for workers

Visit a rental room of about 20 square meters of the family of Mr. Lo Van Minh and Ms. Lo Thi Huong (Thai ethnic group), with full living facilities. Mr. Minh said that before in Nghe An, family life was very difficult. The couple has been working at Ba Ria Rubber Joint Stock Company for more than 2 years, earning an average of over 20 million VND per month. During peak season, each person can earn over 16 million VND, thanks to which the couple saves more than 10 million VND per month.

Ms. Le Thi My Nhut, captain of Team 7, manager of Cu Bi 3 Rubber Workers' Village, said that the village was established in 2023 to provide accommodation for ethnic minority workers' families from Nghe An and Tuyen Quang.

Each family is arranged a room of about 20m2 and is supported by the company and the union with essential items such as beds, cabinets, trays, blankets, gas stoves, rice cookers, hotpot, super-fast bowls, rice, cooking oil, instant noodles... to stabilize their initial life. Every month, the company also supports 80,000 VND in electricity bills for each household.

Thanks to good salaries and benefits, the number of ethnic minority workers coming here has increased every year. When it was first established, the village had only 35 workers, in 2024 it increased to 86 workers and by July 2025, the village had 75 CN households with nearly 200 people, of which 160 were workers, the rest were their children and relatives.

Mr. Tran Khac Chung - General Director of Ba Ria Rubber Joint Stock Company - informed that the company has coordinated with the Trade Union to organize a delegation to communes of Ha Giang province (now Tuyen Quang) and Nghe An to recruit ethnic minority workers to work with preferential policies. The salary price is only public and transparent, so everyone knows that if they can exploit as much latex, they will receive as much salary. Fortunately, salaries and incomes are now higher than in previous years. At the end of the year, the company and the union organized a car to take workers home for Tet and pick them up to return to work. Currently, there are 253 workers who are ethnic minorities, double the same period in 2024.