Workers worry less
Hau Giang Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company (headquartered in Ninh Kieu District, Can Tho City) is one of the few companies in Can Tho that invests in building a daycare facility for employees’ children. The nursery, named “Children’s Garden”, is about 600 square meters wide, spacious, clean, has enough staff and operates as an independent facility.
Ms. Le Thi Hoang Trang (Children's group owner) said that the nursery was established in 2011 with an annual intake of around 50 children. After more than 13 years of operation, more than 600 children have been cared for and loved. Expenses such as electricity, water, salaries, bonuses for teachers... are all paid by the company. On holidays, the union will support gifts for the children. "Parents who send their children here do not have to pay tuition fees, only pay for meals at 30,000 VND/child/day (children under 12 months are exempt from meals). Regarding activities, the children are educated according to the program of the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET)" - Ms. Trang said.
Having two twins sent here, Mr. Danh Be Nam (in charge of export market) said: "I feel very secure about the working hours, especially the reasonable cost for the two children, my family has a lot less to worry about."
According to Mr. Vo Hong Lam - Head of Education and Training Division of Ninh Kieu district, this model has been implemented by the company for many years, is very effective and practical, meets the needs of sending children to female employees, promotes the role of the Trade Union in taking care of life, and creates conditions for employees to work with peace of mind.
"Building a nursery group also contributes to increasing the rate of mobilizing preschool-age children in the district to go to school, reducing pressure on the only public kindergarten in the ward," said Mr. Lam.
In Thot Not district, there is currently Thoi Thuan 1 Kindergarten opposite Thot Not Industrial Park, making it easy for workers to send their children to school. Workers from neighboring districts who come to work at this Industrial Park and need to send their children to school are also supported and resolved by the District Labor Federation.
“Previously, we promptly coordinated with the district education and training department and local authorities to support two cases of employees from other districts who wanted to send their children to school. In the coming time, we will work with the company's trade unions to monitor the situation and provide immediate support if there are similar cases,” said Ms. Pham Kim Tuyen, Chairwoman of the Thot Not District Labor Federation.
Continue to propose and recommend
Speaking with Lao Dong, Mr. Vo Thanh Hung - Chairman of the Trade Union of Hau Giang Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company - informed that the company currently has about 2,800 officers, employees and workers. Through the survey, most workers are satisfied when sending their children to the company's nursery. "We are happy to gain trust from workers day by day. The company has a plan to renovate the nursery with a budget of about 1 billion VND to help children play and study in a better environment" - Mr. Hung said.
Regarding Thot Not Industrial Park, if the demand is large, the District Labor Federation will propose and recommend appropriate solutions to the locality such as increasing the resources of teachers, rooms, and classes to meet the childcare needs of union members and employees.
Ms. Le Thanh Thuy - Chairwoman of the Trade Union of Can Tho Industrial Parks and Export Processing Zones - acknowledged that, besides good practices and models at other companies and localities in the city, Tra Noc Industrial Park still does not have a kindergarten or daycare center while the demand of workers is very high.
“We actively support employees with young children by guiding the trade union to negotiate and sign collective labor agreements. Some trade unions support employees with money to raise children under 36 months old to go to school with 500,000 VND/month. The trade union continues to survey, grasp the situation and propose and recommend to superiors about building schools and kindergartens in industrial parks,” said Ms. Thuy.
