Enterprises operating for more than 10 years still have not established a Trade Union
Duyen Ha Cement Factory is considered one of the largest enterprises in Ninh Binh with a total of over 700 workers and annual revenue of billions of dong... However, up to now, this enterprise has not yet implemented the regulations on establishing a Trade Union organization.
Ms. Dinh Thi Dao - President of Hoa Lu District Labor Federation - said that for more than 10 years, the District Labor Federation has sent documents and directly visited the factory many times to promote the establishment of a grassroots trade union, however, we have never met the factory director. Some times we only met with the staff to help but then there was no response.
“In 2013, the Secretary of the Ninh Binh Provincial Party Committee, along with representatives of the provincial Labor Federation and related units, personally went to the factory to meet and contact the business owner to discuss the establishment of a trade union organization at the enterprise.
At the meeting, Mr. Pham Van Duyen - Factory Director - promised to create conditions for the quick establishment of a trade union organization. However, up to now, after more than 10 years, the promotion of the establishment of a trade union in this enterprise has remained stagnant" - Ms. Dao said.
Mr. Dinh The Hung - Chairman of the Trade Union of Industrial Parks in Ninh Binh Province - shared that currently, in the industrial parks in the province, there are a number of enterprises that have been operating for many years, but have not yet established a Trade Union, mainly domestic enterprises. In addition, some business owners do not understand the functions and tasks of the trade union organization correctly, so they have delayed or avoided creating conditions for mobilizing union members and establishing grassroots trade unions.
Some enterprises have established grassroots trade unions but they do not operate effectively because the business owners do not pay union fees, so they cannot organize activities and cannot recruit more workers to join the union.This leads to union officials becoming discouraged, changing jobs, and no longer being union officials.
"There was a time in a year when we had to reorganize 14 chairmen, vice chairmen and 31 members of the Executive Committee of the grassroots trade union," Mr. Hung shared.
Developing union members and establishing grassroots unions are top priorities.
Mr. Tran Kim Long - Vice Chairman of the Ninh Binh Provincial Federation of Labor - said that the work of developing union members and establishing grassroots unions is the most important, continuous and vital task of the union organization, both in the short and long term. In recent years, union levels from the provincial to the grassroots have constantly innovated the content and methods of operation in the direction of not spreading out, devoting resources to focus on performing the functions and tasks of the union organization with the motto of focusing on the grassroots, for union members and workers.
However, in 2024, although all levels of trade unions in Ninh Binh province have made great efforts, the work of developing union members and establishing grassroots trade unions has achieved very modest results. The number of newly admitted union members is over 10,000 people. However, the number of union members has also decreased significantly, so the actual increase compared to the target assigned by the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor is only over 30%.
According to Mr. Long, the current shortcomings and limitations in the work of developing union members and establishing grassroots unions in Ninh Binh province are due to the small number of investment projects and large-scale enterprises in operation. Many business owners do not create conditions or make it difficult for the work of promoting the development of union members and establishing grassroots unions.
In addition, a number of workers are not enthusiastic about joining the trade union. Some district and city labor federations and industry trade unions in Ninh Binh province have not done a good job of advising the Party Committee, and have not mobilized the combined strength of all levels and sectors to focus on developing union members and establishing grassroots trade unions.
“To achieve better results in developing union members and establishing grassroots unions in 2025 and the following years, it is necessary to lay the foundation for developing Party organizations in enterprises and to better protect the legitimate rights and interests of workers. On November 29, following the direction of the Standing Committee of the Ninh Binh Provincial Party Committee and the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, we held a conference to discuss solutions to promote the development of union members and the establishment of grassroots unions,” said Mr. Long.
