HANOI : At least 15,000 workers at a Vietnam factory that makes shoes for Nike have gone on strike, looking for better pay to cope with surging prices in the country, an official and the company said on Tuesday.

The workers went on strike Monday at the Ching Luh factory in southern Long An province, demanding a monthly pay rise of 200,000 dong (12.4 dollars), or around 15 percent, said Huynh Van Xe from the provincial labour department.

"But management only offered 100,000 more," he said, calling the work stoppage at the Taiwanese-owned factory the province's biggest strike in memory.

A Nike spokesman put the number of striking workers at 15,000, but the Vietnamese official said 17,000 had downed tools.

Strikes are becoming more frequent in communist Vietnam, where consumer prices have risen more than 16 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2008, including for essentials such as the staple food rice.

"We recognise the impact that rising inflation has had on the people of Vietnam," said Nike spokesman Chris Helzer.

"We strongly support the workers' rights to freedom of association and hope the situation will be resolved quickly and amicably."

Nike said the Ching Luh plant was already paying its workers more than the government-set minimum wage of between 800,000 and one million dong per month for foreign companies in Vietnam.

The US sportswear giant said it works with 50 different factories in the country, where about a third of its shoes are produced.

In December, 10,000 workers walked off the job at another Vietnamese plant where goods are made for Nike. - AFP/de