At 4 am, when many families were still in sleep, Ms. Uong Thi Tuyet Mai (56 years old) started her familiar work on Hoa Binh and Phung Khac Khoan streets of Yen Bai ward, Lao Cai province.
More than 25 years attached to the profession of sweeping and collecting domestic waste, Ms. Mai has become a familiar face to many people in the mountain town.
As one of the first generations of workers of Nam Thanh Yen Bai Energy Environment Joint Stock Company, she witnessed every change of the city through each street and corner.
“Some days it's biting cold, some days it rains heavily for a long time, but the work still has to be done on time. I try to make people see the streets clean in the morning and travel conveniently,” the female worker confided.
Ms. Mai's work is divided into two shifts. After the morning shift starts from dawn, in the afternoon she continues to work from about 5 pm to 8 pm - the time when people live, the amount of waste increases a lot.
Every day, she and her colleagues have to walk and push carts to collect tons of garbage from households, restaurants, and hotels. The work seems simple but always hides many hardships due to the smell of garbage, harsh weather and pressure to complete a large amount of work in a short time.
Not only dedicated to her work, Ms. Uong Thi Tuyet Mai is always concerned about finding ways to improve labor efficiency from her actual daily work.
In 2023, she proposed the initiative "How to arrange garbage collection vehicles after sorting at collection points". The initiative originated from the fact that the unreasonable arrangement of collection vehicles caused workers to spend more time moving and increased labor volume.
After application, the operation of the garbage transportation fleet is carried out more scientifically, shortening working hours and significantly reducing the effort for environmental sanitation workers.
Next, in 2024, she continued to have the initiative "Improving the quality of environmental sanitation work through monitoring and evaluating the quality of environmental sanitation on the streets of the neighborhood group leader".
According to Ms. Mai, collecting opinions directly from people not only helps to objectively assess the quality of environmental sanitation but also raises the sense of responsibility of workers in the working process.
This initiative was then widely applied by the company and received many positive feedbacks from the community.
According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Bich Thao - Chairwoman of the Trade Union of Nam Thanh Yen Bai Energy Environment Joint Stock Company, Ms. Mai is one of the typical union members of the unit.
Ms. Mai's initiatives have contributed to improving the effectiveness of environmental sanitation work, building a green - clean - beautiful urban landscape.
We are very proud that you are the only individual in Lao Cai province to be awarded a certificate of merit by the VGCL for outstanding achievements in studying and following Ho Chi Minh's thought, morality, and style in the period 2023 - 2025.
This is also the first time the grassroots trade union has had a union member achieve this noble achievement," Ms. Thao shared.
