Need to strengthen the rights of union officials and members
Ms. Huynh Thi Lien - Trade Union of Ty Hung Company - said that the Trade Union Law (amended) needs to pay more attention to training, education, improving quality and professionalism, focusing on training, improving capacity and negotiation skills of trade union officials. Along with that, there should be regulations on regimes, policies, subsidies, determining job positions for trade union officials, enhancing the rights of trade union officials; enhancing the consistency, feasibility, and suitability of the provisions in the Trade Union Law on ensuring the rights of employees in cases of bankruptcy, dissolution of enterprises, and the right to supervision and social criticism of trade unions.
Mr. Dang Huy Cuong - Member of the Executive Committee of PouYuen Vietnam Company's Trade Union - said that currently, the Trade Union Law has stipulated the monthly working hours of the Trade Union President, Vice President, as well as the leader and deputy leader of the grassroots trade union (CDCS), however, it does not stipulate the working hours of union members and employees, so Trade Union activities must mainly be carried out after working hours and on employees' days off.
Therefore, Mr. Cuong suggested that the Trade Union Law (amended) should stipulate that each month, employees are allowed to take at least 2-4 hours off to participate in trade union activities. This ensures the trade union rights of employees, while also providing time for trade union officials to disseminate the Party's policies and guidelines, the State's laws and the regulations of the trade union organization to union members and employees.
Proposal for business owners who do not pay union fees to be banned from leaving the country
According to Mr. Hoang Van Dung - Minh Hung Plastic Joint Stock Company, the trade union budget is an important part to ensure material conditions for the trade union organization to perform well the functions and tasks of representing, caring for and protecting union members and workers assigned by the Party and State to the trade union organization and ensuring stable welfare for workers.
In reality, many units and enterprises, despite being repeatedly propagated and urged by the Trade Union at all levels, still deliberately evade responsibility and do not or delay paying Trade Union fees, causing difficulties for Trade Union activities, especially in taking care of union members and employees.
“The draft Law on Trade Unions (amended) stipulates that failure to pay, late payment of trade union fees, and failure to pay at the prescribed level or for an insufficient number of people who are required to pay are prohibited acts. Therefore, the draft needs to supplement regulations on the deadline for paying trade union fees and sanctions for violations in paying trade union fees. It specifies in detail how long it takes to be considered as failure to pay or late payment of trade union fees, to ensure that units and enterprises can easily monitor and fulfill their obligations to pay trade union fees. At the same time, it is necessary to supplement sanctions such as not paying trade union fees from the 6th month onwards, which will be proposed to state management agencies to prohibit exit, freeze accounts and invoices,” Mr. Dung proposed.
Ms. Phan Thi Tuyet Huong - Trade Union of Trieu An Hospital - agrees with the regulation to keep the 2% trade union fee contribution rate as per current regulations. However, according to Ms. Huong, the Trade Union Law (amended) should not strictly stipulate that the grassroots trade union and the representative organization of employees at the enterprise are distributed 75% or that the superior trade union manages and uses 25%, but should stipulate in the direction of "minimum 75%" and "maximum 25%" to ensure flexibility in overall regulation of the entire system, depending on the scale of the trade union organization or by locality.
