Workers are still in difficulty
In recent years, the lives of a part of union members and workers in Quang Tri province, especially workers in non-state sectors, industrial parks, and remote and isolated areas, have faced many difficulties. Income is unstable, housing conditions, working environment, and institutions serving cultural and spiritual life are still lacking and do not meet practical needs.
Although the care activities of the trade union organization are increasingly innovating and strengthening, fundamental solutions are still needed, suitable to the new context to better ensure the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of union members and workers.
According to the Quang Tri Provincial Labor Federation (LDLD), one of the issues that workers are most concerned about today is housing for workers in industrial zones and clusters. In reality, the implementation of social housing policies for workers still faces many obstacles in terms of procedures, financial mechanisms, and appraisal criteria. Many workers have real needs but still have difficulty accessing social housing, even having to buy it back at prices higher than the initial regulations.
Union members and workers proposed that the State soon remove legal bottlenecks, review the appraisal process suitable to the income conditions of workers; and at the same time have preferential credit policies and mechanisms to encourage businesses to participate in investing in social housing construction associated with trade union institutions.
Besides, many opinions believe that the current regulations on retirement age are not really suitable for the specifics of some heavy labor fields such as garment, footwear, road and railway repair, kindergarten teachers, rubber latex miners...
Workers propose that the Government continue to research and supplement the list of occupations with reduced retirement age on a scientific and practical basis, thereby ensuring long-term health, limiting labor accidents and helping them have the opportunity to switch jobs after retirement age.
Coordinate to better care for workers
In Quang Tri province, the process of arranging the local government model in a two-level direction has directly impacted the organization and operation of trade unions. When there is no longer a district trade union level, the number of grassroots trade unions managed by the Provincial Labor Federation has increased sharply, the area is large, while the team of full-time officials is still thin. The establishment of commune and ward trade unions is only initially implemented, the functions and tasks are not really clear, leading to difficulties in grasping the situation of union members and organizing grassroots activities.
From that reality, the trade union organization proposed that the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor soon issue regulations on the functions and tasks of commune and ward trade unions in the direction of decentralization, giving more initiative to grassroots levels; and at the same time study organizational models suitable to the current socio-political institutions but still maintaining the relative independence of the trade union.
From a local perspective, when projects such as Quang Tri Industrial Park, My Thuy Port... go into operation, the number of workers is forecast to increase rapidly. Therefore, investing in welfare projects for workers such as housing, centralized kindergartens, cultural and sports facilities, and community living spaces is identified as an urgent requirement.
The Trade Union proposed that the province pay attention to allocating resources, and at the same time build a mechanism to encourage businesses to participate in investing in projects serving workers' lives. Going hand in hand with that is human resource planning, vocational training, retraining and developing labor market information systems to meet the recruitment needs of businesses.
Reality also shows that in some businesses, there is still a situation of violations of labor laws and social insurance, debt, evasion of social insurance contributions, and unsafe working environment. Workers request functional agencies to strengthen inspection, examination, and strict handling of violations, thereby creating a sustainable, fair and stable working environment.
Mr. Nguyen The Lap - Chairman of the Quang Tri Provincial Labor Federation - said that taking care of the material and spiritual life of union members and workers is not only the responsibility of the Trade Union organization but requires close coordination from the entire political system and the business community. In the coming time, the Provincial Labor Federation will focus on innovating operating methods in the direction of being close to the grassroots level, listening to the voices of workers, proactively advising and proposing practical mechanisms and policies; and at the same time promoting the trade union's role in collective dialogue and negotiation, contributing to improving income, welfare and spiritual life of union members.
