Initial changes in organization and awareness
Mr. Le Van Dai - Permanent Vice President of the Da Nang City Labor Federation (DLF) said: after merging the administrative boundaries between Da Nang and Quang Nam, the city's trade union organization has established 27 commune and ward trade unions on the basis of merging administrative units, receiving the management of 1,385 grassroots trade unions (CDCS) with 106,037 union members.
After more than 2 months of operation, the commune and ward trade unions have initially stabilized the organization and implementation of a number of key tasks in the last 6 months of 2025. Many grassroots trade unions have had positive changes in organization, awareness and methods of performing tasks.
Outstanding activities include: instructing the Trade Union to organize "Union Meals", conducting periodic health check-ups, collective activities such as team building, giving gifts to union members in difficult circumstances and organizing lucky draws.
In addition, units also focus on synthesizing, reviewing data, receiving new union members; visiting and working with grassroots unions to grasp the situation of labor relations; propagating and mobilizing the development of union members, establishing grassroots unions; guiding the change of union seals, standardizing legal documents.
The City Labor Federation also organized a training conference on the Trade Union Law 2024, the Labor Law, the negotiation process and signing of collective labor agreements, and signed a coordination regulations with the Social Insurance on implementing insurance policies and workers' rights. Dialogue sessions with union members and workers are also held regularly.
Many difficulties in operations
At the recent meeting of the commune and ward trade union committees, many Chairmen of the commune and ward trade unions said that they encountered many difficulties in their activities due to the small number of positions, both performing the tasks of the Fatherland Front and performing trade union tasks.
In addition, they also have to attend many meetings of the Party Committee, People's Council, People's Committee and related sectors, limiting the time to implement trade union activities.
In fact, commune and ward trade unions are currently at the same level as grassroots trade unions, with large areas, scattered grassroots trade unions and many different occupations, making it difficult to organize, manage, and gather union members.
The implementation of the new model is still confusing, with no clear coordination regulations with the government and relevant agencies. Developing union members and establishing grassroots unions is difficult because there are no clear regulations on the functions and tasks of commune and ward unions, and some enterprises have not cooperated in mobilizing the establishment of grassroots unions.
In addition, the union budget estimate is issued monthly, lacking initiative; there is no stable and clear financial mechanism for commune and ward unions. The implementation of the Capital Support Fund also faces difficulties because the enterprise does not sign a commitment to ensure credit guarantee because union members frequently change their workplace.
According to Ms. Phan Thi Thuy Linh, Chairwoman of the Da Nang City Labor Federation, the fact that newly established commune and ward unions after streamlining and rearranging their operating apparatus are facing difficulties is no longer a new thing, it has been reflected a lot. And currently, the authorities, the City Labor Federation, and the leaders of the higher-level trade unions have been, are, and continue to resolve the issue.
And while waiting to remove difficulties, Ms. Linh said that the Chairmen of the Commune and Ward Trade Unions themselves must also be more proactive and creative in their way of thinking and working.
I see that the leaders of the Commune and Ward Trade Unions in Da Nang are still very concerned about old thinking and old ways of doing things, while in practice, the restructuring of the apparatus has changed a lot. The commune and ward trade unions now have to change their way of thinking and doing things, be proactive, creative, think differently, do differently before creating jobs and products, otherwise there will be more problems and difficulties" - Ms. Linh said.
