The two communes are adjacent, with a regional minimum wage difference of 28.3%
The Ho Chi Minh City Labor Federation has just sent a document to the Standing Committee of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Finance and the National Wage Council on the proposal to apply the minimum wage (LTT) to a number of communes in Ho Chi Minh City.
Previously, according to the draft Decree regulating LTT for employees working under the Labor Union (hereinafter referred to as the draft) will be divided into 4 regions, with the LTT level from region I to region IV being: 5.31 million VND/month, 4.73 million VND/month, 4.14 million VND/month and 3.7 million VND/month respectively.
According to this draft, the monthly LTT is the lowest salary level used as a basis for negotiating and paying salaries to employees applying the monthly salary payment method to ensure that the salary according to the job or position of the employee working enough normal working hours in the month and completing the agreed labor or work rate must not be lower than the monthly LTT level.
According to Mr. Le Van Hoa - Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Labor Federation, after implementing the policy of merging provinces and cities and the 2-level government model, Ho Chi Minh City currently has 168 commune-level administrative units (113 wards, 54 communes and 1 special zone of Con Dao). This arrangement has narrowed the gap in income, living standards and living conditions between areas.
However, in Ho Chi Minh City, although there are communes and wards bordering each other, applying two LTT levels of regions I and III is too different. For example, Chau Duc commune and Kim Long commune apply the draft LTT level of region III of 4.14 million VND/month. These two communes are adjacent to Tan Thanh ward, and are subject to the LTT level of region I of 5.31 million VND/month. Similar to Ngai Giao and Nghia Thanh communes applying the LTT level of Region III, Chau Pha commune applies the LTT level of Region I; Con Dao special zone applies the LTT level of Region III bordering Vung Tau ward applies the LTT level of Region I; Long Hai commune, Long Dien commune applies the LTT level of Region III bordering Phuoc Thang ward.
According to Mr. Le Van Hoa, the difference of 1.17 million VND (equivalent to 28.3%) in LTT between areas bordering communes, wards and special zones is too large.
Proposal to increase the minimum wage of 6 communes and Con Dao Special Zone from region III to region II
Mr. Nguyen Trung Ngan - Department of Labor Relations, Policy and Law of the Ho Chi Minh City Labor Federation - who has been involved in labor dispute settlement leading to collective work stoppages for many years - recalled that in practice, in the area bordering Phu My town and Chau Duc district (formerly Ba Ria - Vung Tau province), labor disputes have arisen due to salary difference, only when the Government adjusts, will labor relations be stable.
From the above analysis, the Ho Chi Minh City Labor Federation proposes to apply the principle that when regulating regional LTT, the gap between border areas of region I must not exceed one sub-region and it is necessary to adjust LTT from region III to region II for communes, wards, and special zones bordering region I. Accordingly, adjusting LTT of Chau Duc, Kim Long, Ngai Giao, Nghia Thanh communes, Con Dao special zones, Long Hai commune, Long Dien commune from region III to region II, due to the bordering of wards and communes, will apply LTT from region I.
The Ho Chi Minh City Labor Federation proposes to add to the draft a provision: "S paysage regime for employees working or holding positions with arduous, toxic, or dangerous working conditions is at least 5% higher". The reason for the proposal is that Decree 49/2013/ND-CP already has this regulation. At the same time, Clause 3, Article 5 of Decree 74/2024/ND-CP, which is in effect, also stipulates that this content is consistent with the principle that when applying this decree, other legal agreements as prescribed by law must not be cut off.
