On the morning of December 13, under the chairmanship of Mr. Nguyen Dinh Khang, member of the Party Central Committee, President of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor and Vice Presidents: Huynh Thanh Xuan, Ngo Duy Hieu, Nguyen Xuan Hung, Phan Van Anh, the 6th Conference of the Executive Committee of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor (Term XIII) was held in the hall.
Ms. Pham Thi Thanh Tam, Chairwoman of the Vietnam Textile and Garment Trade Union, said that the textile and garment industry has a large workforce and contributes significantly to the country’s export turnover. However, this is an industry with labor fluctuations and complicated labor relations due to low working conditions and wages compared to other industries.
In addition, the general level of workers is not high; workers are mainly from rural areas, industrial working style, and survival skills are limited. Therefore, the risk of strikes and collective work stoppages is likely to occur.
Vietnam Textile and Garment Trade Union currently has 115 grassroots trade unions with nearly 110 thousand union members and workers, of which over 70% are female workers.
According to Ms. Pham Thi Thanh Tam, the textile and garment industry is the first to sign a collective labor agreement. The first version was signed in 2010 with 69 participating units. Up to now, there have been 6 signings. The latest signing was in July 2024 with 87 participating enterprises, accounting for 82.7% of enterprises in the production and business sector and 82% of employees in the entire system.
In this latest version, the salary stipulated in the agreement is 14% higher than the regional minimum wage; the meal allowance is 15,000-18,000 VND corresponding to 4 regions in the country, only including food.
In addition, when workers get married, they are congratulated with 200,000 VND/person; female workers are supported with raising children up to 36 months old with a minimum of 50,000 VND/month...
Workers are given a 5-10 minute break to exercise during breaks; at least 8 hours are spent studying and improving their legal knowledge...
"After each signing, the policies were negotiated by both sides to have more progressive policies than the previous agreement. Salaries and incomes were much higher than the agreement; no unit violated the shift meal regime, other policies were maintained and improved every year," Ms. Pham Thi Thanh Tam assessed.
Expected to support 150,000 union members and workers in difficulty
Previously, also discussing at the meeting hall, Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhu Y, Chairwoman of Dong Nai Provincial Labor Federation, said that Dong Nai Provincial Labor Federation has issued a plan to organize activities to take care of union members and workers in Dong Nai province on the occasion of the Lunar New Year.
Trade Unions at all levels in the province plan to support about 150,000 union members and workers in difficult circumstances and organize activities to visit, encourage, and give gifts to union members and workers, organize free transportation or support train, bus, and plane tickets for union members and workers to return home to celebrate Tet in a warm, joyful atmosphere, bearing the mark of the Union.
It is expected that over 700,000 union members and workers will be taken care of during Tet with a total budget of about 450 billion VND, the entire amount of money used from the budget of the Trade Union at all levels is about 380 billion VND, the provincial budget supports 30 billion VND for 30,000 workers, and the socialized budget from enterprises supports the grassroots trade unions is about 40 billion VND.
The Provincial Labor Federation alone organizes the program "Train for Reunion - Spring 2025" to support 1,000 train tickets to bring union members and workers back to their hometowns to celebrate Tet. In addition, the Provincial Labor Federation will coordinate with agencies, units, and enterprises to organize the program "Trade Union Tet Market 2025" from January 14-19, 2025 with about 100 booths.
In addition, the Provincial Federation of Labor will organize a meeting with 250 families of workers, civil servants, and laborers in difficult circumstances and the program "Tet Sum Vay - Spring Thanks to the Party" integrated into the series of activities at the program "Trade Union Tet Market 2025".
At the same time, the General Confederation has supported Dong Nai with 350 round-trip train tickets, 92 plane tickets to bring union members in the province back to their hometowns to celebrate Tet and supported 4,500 shopping vouchers at the online "Union Tet Market 2025" program.
"In addition to taking care of the material and spiritual needs of union members and workers, the trade unions at all levels in the province also continue to focus on the following issues: wages and bonuses during Tet; inspecting and supervising the care of union members and workers during Tet; and resolving labor disputes...", said Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhu Y.
