Contributing opinions to the Draft Report of the Executive Committee of the 13th Vietnam General Confederation of Labor at the 14th Congress of the Vietnam Trade Union, term 2026-2031, Ms. Truong Thi Mai - Chairwoman of the Trade Union of PISICO Forest Product Export Processing Enterprise (Gia Lai) - proposed many solutions to enhance the role of representing, caring for and protecting the rights of workers in the new context.
Workers need a real support
According to Ms. Mai, in the past time, the Trade Union organization has well promoted its role of representing, caring for and protecting the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of union members and workers (ĐV, NLĐ). This is the central and core task of the Trade Union organization.
Trade union activities increasingly affirm their position as a reliable support for union members and workers, contributing to ensuring social security, building harmonious and stable labor relations; promoting the sustainable development of agencies, units, and businesses.
However, according to Ms. Mai, in some places, Trade Union activities are still formalistic; representative and negotiation skills are not really effective; grasping the thoughts and aspirations of employees is sometimes not timely; in some places, the role of the Trade Union still depends on the employer.
Ms. Mai believes that changes in jobs, income and the working environment are an inevitable innovation trend in the development process of society. Therefore, the Trade Union organization also needs to innovate to adapt in a timely manner.
In my opinion, a strong Trade Union is not only an organization with many outstanding movements, but more importantly, it must be a place for employees to feel a solid support when facing difficulties and upheavals in work and life," Ms. Mai expressed.
From that reality, she hopes that the Trade Union organization will build a team of cadres with intelligence and bravery, truly representing employees in caring for and protecting their legitimate and lawful rights and interests.
In particular, she proposed to improve the quality of collective bargaining based on actual data such as living standards, living costs, labor market, wages... so that the voice of the Trade Union is more persuasive and effective.
In addition, it is necessary to promote digital transformation in Trade Union activities through building online applications or separate apps to receive feedback and security complaints; 24/7 legal advice; quickly update new policies related to employees.
According to Ms. Mai, the Trade Union also needs to listen to "voices from the grassroots level", especially the thoughts that workers are still hesitant to discuss directly, through social networking groups and digital data systems about UMs.
In addition, the Trade Union organization needs to accompany employees in terms of occupational health and adaptability in the era of automation and technology transformation. Currently, workers' biggest concern is the risk of being replaced when lines and machinery change.
The Trade Union should coordinate with businesses and training institutions to open skills training classes, vocational retraining, helping workers have the opportunity to change jobs instead of losing them," Ms. Mai proposed.
Expecting strong Trade Union innovation after the Congress
From the reality of operation at the grassroots level, Ms. Mai said that in the past time, the Trade Union organization has implemented many meaningful and practical activities towards union members and workers to celebrate the 14th Vietnam Trade Union Congress.
Through this, union members and workers are even more confident and expect this Congress to create a new milestone in renovating the organization and activities of the Trade Union.
I personally completely agree with the contents of the Draft Political Report submitted to the 14th Congress of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour. However, I hope the Congress will focus on analyzing and evaluating the reality of life, work and thoughts of workers and laborers in the new context; thereby proposing strong innovation solutions, suitable to the 2-level local government model and the development requirements of the country," Ms. Mai shared.
She expects that in the coming time, the Trade Union organization will continue to strongly focus on grassroots levels, taking union members and workers as the center in all activities; strengthening the representative role, caring for and protecting the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of workers in a more substantive and effective way.
It is necessary to pay attention to building a contingent of Trade Union officials with firm political bravery, qualifications, skills and sense of responsibility to be able to represent and protect employees in the new situation.
At the same time, there needs to be appropriate mechanisms and policies to support and protect Trade Union officials to feel secure in their work, promote their roles and responsibilities, and improve the effectiveness of Trade Union activities at the grassroots level," Ms. Mai sent a petition.
