Workers' petitions are discussed and resolved
On July 15, in an exchange with a reporter from Lao Dong Newspaper, Mr. Nguyen Nhu Thuc - Chairman of the Trade Union of Sao Vang commune, Thanh Hoa province - said that the collective work stoppage at Long Yi Vietnam Footwear Co., Ltd. has been resolved. Workers have returned to work, and the production activities of the enterprise are maintained stably.
After the incident occurred, functional agencies verified a number of cases showing signs of inciting and luring workers to stop working; and at the same time made records to continue considering and handling according to regulations.
Mr. Nguyen Xuan Tuan - Head of Policy and Law and Labor Relations Department, Thanh Hoa Provincial Labor Federation - said that after the incident occurred on July 2, some opinions appeared on social networks that businesses "do not have unions", workers are prevented from petitioning for benefits or verifying people showing signs of enticement is to put pressure on workers.
According to Mr. Tuan, the above assessments do not fully and objectively reflect the developments, causes and results of the case resolution. Because at the time of the incident, about 700 workers stopped working to petition about wages and some welfare regimes. After receiving the information, the inter-sectoral working group of the province, local leaders, Sao Vang Commune Trade Union and the Company's Trade Union Executive Committee directly worked with the enterprise and representatives of employees.
The information that the company does not have a Trade Union organization is not consistent with the official report. In the process of resolving, the Company's Trade Union Executive Committee participated in receiving and reflecting petitions and coordinating to organize dialogues between employees and businesses" - Mr. Tuan informed.
Workers put forward three main groups of recommendations, including: transferring 100,000 VND currently included in the housing allowance to the basic salary; adjusting the conditions for enjoying meal allowances when working overtime; considering increasing the level of attachment allowance. After the working session, the business agreed to transfer 100,000 VND from the housing allowance to the basic salary, raising the basic salary from 5 million VND to 5.1 million VND/month.
For the remaining recommendations, businesses are committed to referring to the policies of units in the same industry and continue to consider based on the production and business situation.
Differentiating the right to petition and the act of enticement
Mr. Nguyen Xuan Tuan said that employees have the right to reflect, propose, dialogue and request businesses to consider issues related to salaries, working conditions and welfare. This is a legitimate right, which needs to be respected and protected. However, proposals need to be made through dialogue, negotiation, employee representative organization and mechanisms prescribed by law.
No individual is allowed to take advantage of the thoughts and grievances of workers to spread false information, incite, attract crowds or promote acts that may cause insecurity and disorder, affect the rights of employees and the normal operation of the enterprise.
The fact that functional agencies verify and make records for people showing signs of incitement needs to be understood as an activity to consider specific acts, not to deny the collective worker's right to petition.
Only when there is a conclusion from a competent authority can it be confirmed which individual violated, the nature and severity of the violation. It is necessary to avoid hasty conclusions, and at the same time, it is not advisable to use the name of protecting workers to encourage acts of enticement, gathering crowds of people against regulations or sharing unverified information.
Therefore, workers need to remain calm, choose the right channel to reflect, do not share unverified information, do not listen to incitement, and do not let their legitimate rights be abused for other purposes.
