To overcome this situation, trade unions at many localities are making efforts to increase their presence and protect the rights of union members and workers in this special area.
Workers are vulnerable to rights violations.
Mr. Vo Van Du (from Phu Yen) used to work as a construction worker for a contractor who carried out a project in Nha Trang City (Khanh Hoa) for 2 years. During the work, Mr. Du only received the agreed salary of 400,000 VND/day without any labor contract or documents other than a name card to enter and exit the construction site. When the project was almost completed, the contractor used the excuse of being behind schedule to delay paying Mr. Du. After more than 3 months of trying to go to work in the hope of getting his salary, Mr. Du finally gave up and went to work to earn a living because the contractor took his salary and ran away. Mr. Du's entire salary of more than 30 million VND was lost.
Recently, 12 workers of Construction Company 189 had to send a petition to the press after 2 years of unsuccessfully demanding their wages.
Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tung (name has been changed), who used to work as a construction supervisor for Construction Company 189, said: “I was owed 5 months of salary. When I was owed salary, I could only contact the business owner but was promised for nearly 2 years. Although there was a labor contract, the company did not have a union, so the workers did not know how to claim their rights. After consulting and seeing that the company did not pay, I had to submit a petition to the authorities for help.”
More trade unions needed
According to the Social Insurance of Khanh Hoa province, out of 656 enterprises and units in the province that have participated in social insurance, there are 4,751 employees who have made tax settlements but do not participate in social insurance. The majority of employees work in the construction sector according to each project package; service units depend on the number of customers, so they only hire employees to serve by the day with less than 14 working days but still declare and settle personal income tax to reduce business costs.
Meanwhile, there are 484 units with 2,625 tax-settled employees who have not participated in compulsory social insurance. The reason is that businesses operating in the construction and hotel sectors often find ways to not sign labor contracts or participate in social insurance for employees because they only hire temporary, seasonal, or contracted workers who do not work 14 full working days, so participating in social insurance and health insurance for employees is difficult.
Mr. Bui Dang Thanh - Permanent Vice Chairman of Khanh Hoa Provincial Labor Federation - shared that in reality, construction workers in large units and enterprises with trade unions operate in an orderly manner, complying with policies for union members and employees. However, for workers who work without contracts, work on projects, receive daily wages... even though their income is high, it is not stable in the long term but is "quick-fix". With the mindset of "knowing today, knowing tomorrow", workers themselves do not want to participate in social insurance constraints.
“In the coming time, we are also working to coordinate and mobilize construction workers to raise awareness of their rights. Connect with key sources to gather workers working as bricklayers, painters, etc. to mobilize them to participate in establishing specialized trade unions. Through trade unions, workers will have an organization to organize activities, be updated on relevant legal policies, and especially access voluntary insurance regimes, social insurance, etc. to ensure a more sustainable future when the Trade Union is with them,” said Mr. Thanh.
