Perspective from grassroots trade union
During the working session at the grassroots trade union of Apache Vietnam Footwear Co., Ltd. (Long Giang Industrial Park, Dong Thap province) on the occasion of celebrating Christmas 2025, we felt like we were "living" in a multilingual environment because we not only heard some workers and management staff communicate in their mother tongue, but also in Chinese and English.
Although not covering all workshops, this shows that if trade union officials do not understand at a basic level, it is difficult to integrate and fully understand the thoughts of the majority.
Ms. Le Thi Ngoc Han - Chairwoman of the Trade Union of Apache Vietnam Footwear Co., Ltd. said that the enterprise employs about 9,000 workers who regularly need both hardware and software training.
Focus on orienting the capacity plan of trade union officials in FDI enterprises, it is possible to focus on organizing soft skills training classes such as negotiation skills, data analysis skills on productivity - salary and dispute resolution. Encourage and support trade union officials to learn foreign languages to remove language barriers with the Board of Directors, thereby negotiation will be more effective and direct" - Ms. Han proposed.
At Freeview Industrial Vietnam Co., Ltd., Mr. Le Vo Huu Hanh - Chairman of the Trade Union, said that besides the achieved results, the Company's Trade Union is still facing core bottlenecks that need to be resolved.
Accordingly, all trade union officials work part-time; great production pressure limits time spent on trade union activities, leading to a lack of in-depth skills such as dialogue, negotiation, conflict management and application of information technology.
According to Mr. Hanh, if talking about developing the capacity of trade union officials, it is necessary to focus on core topics such as conflict management skills, skills to grasp workers' psychology and apply information technology to management.
It must be focused and not formalistic, focusing on practical issues such as employment, income, overtime, occupational safety and health, and welfare. Promoting the application of information technology must also be easy to understand, easy to do, and easy to apply" - Mr. Hanh said.
Trade unions must play a pioneering role
According to Mr. Phan Van Thang - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Dong Thap province, in the past time, trade unions at all levels in the province have well implemented propaganda and ideological orientation for union members, creating high consensus among workers. However, it is also necessary to frankly and seriously recognize that trade unions still have many bottlenecks in organization and operation.
Deputy Secretary of Dong Thap Provincial Party Committee requested that Dong Thap Trade Union proactively participate in implementing breakthroughs in "Developing high-quality human resources". Trade union officials must play a pioneering role, being a bridge to help improve the competitiveness of the large number of existing labor.
The immediate task is to build a specialized action program on improving professional skills, closely coordinate in training, retraining, improving skills, practical skills and especially information technology capacity for workers.
It is necessary to innovate and improve the work efficiency among officials, union members, and workers; it is necessary to be a leading force in applying technology and diversifying forms" - Mr. Thang said.
