Mr. Le Dinh Quang, Deputy Head of the Department of Legal Policy and Labor Relations (Vietnam General Confederation of Labor) said that the 2012 Trade Union Law stipulates that trade unions have the right to "participate and coordinate" with competent state agencies to inspect, examine and supervise.
From the practical implementation, it shows that this regulation does not fully reflect the role and rights of trade unions in monitoring activities; it does not fully reflect the implementation of social monitoring by trade unions.
Mr. Le Dinh Quang analyzed that in the Vietnamese legal system, in addition to the provisions in Article 9 and Article 10 of the 2013 Constitution, there are 7 Laws specifically regulating the supervisory rights of Trade Union organizations; in addition, there are other specialized laws.
In particular, the Law on the Vietnam Fatherland Front stipulates that “socio-political organizations shall preside over the supervision” of contents related to the legitimate and legal rights and interests of union members and members, and the rights and responsibilities of their organizations “at the request of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee and in accordance with the law”.
Clause 4, Article 88 of the Law on Grassroots Democracy Implementation stipulates the rights and responsibilities of Vietnam Trade Unions at all levels: "To supervise and provide social criticism on the implementation of the Party's guidelines and policies, the State's policies and laws directly related to the legitimate rights and interests, and the implementation of grassroots democracy of trade union members".
In addition, Decision 217-QD/TW dated December 12, 2013 of the Politburo on promulgating the regulations on supervision and social criticism of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations stipulates that socio-political organizations are allowed to "Preside over the supervision of the implementation of the Party's guidelines and policies and the State's laws".
In that spirit, the 2024 Trade Union Law has a separate provision (Article 16) on Trade Union supervision, which clearly defines that "Trade Union supervision includes activities of participating in supervision with competent State agencies and activities of presiding over supervision".
At the same time, it specifically stipulates the principles, content, form, scope, rights and responsibilities of the Trade Union when performing supervisory activities.
More specifically, the regulation that the Trade Union has the right to proactively conduct supervision contributes to early detection of violations at the employer, effectively performing the role of a representative organization, protecting the rights of employees in labor relations.
