Speaking to reporters, Mr. Le Dinh Quang - Deputy Head of the Department of Legal Policy and Labor Relations (Vietnam General Confederation of Labor) - said that the Trade Union Law 2024 basically inherits and maintains the provisions on protection and assurance for non-professional trade union officials at the grassroots level so that they can work with peace of mind and perform well the functions and tasks of the Trade Union organization, especially the functions and tasks of representing, caring for and protecting the legitimate and legal rights and interests of trade union members.
In order to more effectively protect non-professional trade union officials, the amended Trade Union Law 2024 stipulates that employers are not allowed to unilaterally terminate labor contracts, employment contracts, dismiss, force to quit or transfer to other jobs for non-professional trade union officials without the written consent of the "direct superior trade union".
Article 28, Clause 3 also clearly stipulates that the trade union is the “legal representative” of the trade union official to initiate a labor lawsuit in court in the event that the employee is a non-professional trade union official whose labor contract or employment contract is terminated by the employer, forced to quit or illegally dismissed, except in cases where the trade union official refuses. In case the employee cannot return to the old job, the trade union will support them in finding a new job and during the period of job interruption, they will be “supported with money from the trade union’s financial resources according to the regulations of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor”.
At the same time, to ensure consistency, the Law has added Point o, Clause 2, Article 31 on the expenditure tasks of trade union finance with the content: "Support for non-professional trade union officials during the period of employment interruption, unable to return to their old jobs due to termination of labor contracts, work contracts, forced resignation or illegal dismissal by employers".
