2009 saw 216 strikes, a decrease of 70 percent year on year, the Committee for Labour Relations (CLR) has reported.

The committee, which provides a consultancy to the Prime Minister on labour issues, said that all the strikes took place peacefully and were over quickly.

The CLR attributed the drop in strikes and the level of violence to efforts made by the committee and the labour union to prevent labour disputes from happening in the first place.

It said that most of the strikes took place in foreign-invested enterprises due to employers failing to keep to labour contracts, delays in payment of salaries and raising working hours above the legal limit.

With this in mind, the CLR held a number of talks with foreign business associations from Japan, the Republic of Korea, the US, Taiwan and Hong Kong to solve any problems emerging from labour disputes.

The committee said that it was waiting for the Prime Minister to approve a project to establish labour relations committees in the three economic hubs of Hanoi in the north, Ho Chi Minh City in the south and Danang in the central region.

The labour agency said that it would continue to hold regular consultancies and talks between the State and businesses and encourage the signing of collective labour contracts.

The committee will also work with other agencies to speed up programmes on housing for employees and public cultural projects in an effort to improve the material and cultural living conditions of workers./.