Near but far
After the Lunar New Year of Binh Ngo, I accidentally met Thanh Hien, a 22-year-old worker working at Bac Thang Long Industrial Park (Hanoi). Hien is from Nghe An, coming to Hanoi alone to find a job from the age of 18. In the conversation, I asked Hien: "Long Tet holiday, are you going on vacation?". Hien turned her face to look at me and smiled: "I'm teasing you, I saved a little money all year to bring back to my hometown to give to my parents, where do I get money to travel? I've been going to movies in theaters for several years. After work hours, I go back to my rented room. Workers like us just want to have a salary and are very happy, what do we think about entertainment, brother".
Hien's story reminds me of the sharing of a grassroots trade union official in the industrial park in the suburbs of Hanoi. He recounted that a worker working a shift in the industrial park (part-time at 8 pm - 9 pm) said that the locality has a cultural house and a sports field, but the opening hours do not coincide with working hours, the road is far from the boarding house, and on weekends it is used to make up for sleep or take care of children.
There is demand, but "access conditions" are not available. In spontaneous boarding areas, common living space is scarce. After work hours, all cultural activities are reduced to... a phone. Entertainment is available, but knowledge, books, community activities, and healthy sports are lacking. "This is a type of cultural poverty in the context of industrialization" - he said.
Many young workers learn through videos, participate in community groups, and watch online performances. But they are also prone to falling into the trap of fake news, harmful content, online gambling/"black credit"... When lacking "digital cultural skills", the right to enjoy culture easily turns into being led by algorithms.
Those stories show that: Culture for workers is not just "having a program" but having time, having space, having appropriate content, and having the ability to access reality.
A 2023 survey by the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor shows that: 60% of workers in industrial parks do not watch TV or listen to radio; 85% do not read books and newspapers; 80% do not exercise regularly; 65% do not participate in mass art activities. The living conditions of workers are still difficult, and cultural, sports, and entertainment activities for workers are not commensurate with the development of industrial parks.
In addition, the Trade Union organization does not have a specialized department to build and directly organize cultural, artistic and sports activities for workers, so the implementation results are still quite modest compared to actual needs. Cultural and artistic activities for workers are movement-based, time-based, sometimes not timely, not regular, lacking systematism, especially in the foreign-invested enterprise sector in industrial parks.
To date, there have been no more similar surveys, but reality shows that access to culture for workers is still difficult due to many factors. Even, the socio-cultural consequences affecting a part of workers have reached an alarming level. A part of workers live loosely, falling into negativity and social evils.
The situation of theft, robbery, disturbing public order, gambling, superstition, drugs, and prostitution appears in many areas with many workers. Meanwhile, many businesses do not pay attention to the culture and spirit of workers. The cultural environment where workers work and live has not been fully cared for...
There have been changes
5 years ago, Resolution 02 of the Politburo on innovating the organization and operation of the Vietnam Trade Union was issued. In which it emphasized the requirement: "Strengthening fostering, training, and raising political awareness and bravery, class awareness, national pride and self-esteem, qualifications, skills, industrial style, understanding of law, labor discipline... for union members and workers. Have appropriate measures to prevent and stop the abuse, enticement, and incitement of workers and laborers to illegal strikes, demonstrations, riots, and disruptions to security and order.
Regularly and proactively coordinate with employers to care for the interests and ensure the rights of workers; promptly supervise, resolve and propose solutions to pressing issues of workers and laborers; actively build harmonious, stable and progressive labor relations at enterprises.
Implementing this requirement, Trade Unions at all levels have also had many solutions to integrate activities and the enjoyment of culture and spirit of workers and laborers. For example, building a Trade Union Bookcase at the grassroots level. In Hanoi, the Self-Management Group of workers' boarding houses in Mai Chau village, Dai Mach commune, Dong Anh district, Dong Anh District Labor Federation (Hanoi) has built a Trade Union Bookcase with over 50 titles for workers, including propaganda books, legal dissemination, newspapers belonging to the Trade Union system... Or in Ung Hoa (Hanoi), a bookcase with more than 200 titles has been placed at Maxcore Co., Ltd. with financial support from Hanoi City Labor Federation, Ung Hoa District Labor Federation, along with books and newspapers from sponsoring units.
Another activity that also left a prominent mark is the "Literary Creation Contest on the theme of workers and trade unions" for the period 2021 - 2023, organized by the VGCL in coordination with the Writers' Association, and Lao Dong Newspaper as the implementing unit. The contest was a great success with thousands of works being novels and short stories reaching workers and laborers.
Writer Y Ban, a member of the Final Judging Council of the contest, said: "The recent contest has promoted, encouraged, and nurtured the literary genre of workers. Relevant agencies should organize for writers to go to many places to increase the creative atmosphere, evoke potential in each person, and even need to expand topics and genres. This is a good topic, with a wide scope, containing many profound and interesting stories, with many angles and aspects that have not been exploited and explored.
This topic also brings many suggestions for workers or trade union officials to talk about themselves and feel more in love with their profession; so that they and we can reflect on it. Even businesses and companies can launch writing contests in their own facilities and invite professional writers to evaluate so that workers and trade union officials will have more opportunities to write about themselves, spreading themselves through literature.
New impetus
On January 7, 2026, the Politburo issued Resolution 80-NQ/TW on developing Vietnamese culture in the new period. The Resolution emphasizes the viewpoint: Investing in culture is investing in development; building a comprehensive Vietnamese person; creating a healthy cultural environment, especially in the digital space.
For workers and laborers, Resolution 80 has many special meanings.
First, the policy of strengthening resources for culture, including ensuring an appropriate proportion of budget expenditure, opening up the possibility of stronger investment in cultural infrastructure - including labor-intensive areas.
Second, emphasize building a healthy digital cultural environment. In the context that young workers spend most of their time entertaining themselves online, this orientation is especially important to limit harmful content, fraud, and misinformation.
Third, link cultural development with human development. Workers are not only "human resources", but cultural subjects, with the right to enjoy, create and participate in the spiritual life of the community.
Speaking at the National Conference to study, study, thoroughly grasp and implement Resolution No. 79-NQ/TW of the Politburo on state economic development and Resolution No. 80-NQ/TW of the Politburo on cultural development of Vietnam held on February 25, 2026, General Secretary To Lam emphasized: "Building a healthy cultural environment must be considered a fundamental task. The cultural environment must truly be a combination of standards of conduct, attitudes of respecting the law, respecting the truth, respecting human dignity, respecting labor and dedication.
Especially, in the digital age, the cultural environment expands to cyberspace, where information spreads quickly, emotions are easily incited and toxic can be "poisoned", creating ambiguity in awareness if there is no resistance. Therefore, it is necessary to improve "social immunity" against fake news, bad and toxic information and build a civilized debate culture, a responsible behavior culture. Resolutely eliminate verbal violence, insulting dignity, spreading hatred, division and depravity.
This will be an issue posed not only to the whole society, but to the workers and labor force, the cultural foundation becomes a spiritual motivation in the new stage.
Investing in the cultural life of workers is not only the responsibility of the State. Businesses directly benefit from a stable labor force, positive spirit, and good discipline.
Many businesses have built football fields, gyms, organized family festivals, and internal sports tournaments. However, this model needs to be more popularized, considering it as part of a sustainable development strategy.
Trade union organizations, especially grassroots trade unions, play a bridging role. When workers are involved in building programs and proposing content, they will be more proactive and attached.
Vietnam is entering a new stage of development, with the goal of becoming a developed country by 2045. In that journey, the workforce continues to be the pillar of production and integration.
But a modern industry cannot go hand in hand with a poor spiritual life. Resolution 80 has opened up a clear policy framework. The remaining issue is the organization of implementation: synchronous planning, allocating strong enough resources, designing operations suitable to the reality of shifts and the diverse needs of workers.
When workers have access to culture in a fair and substantive way, they not only produce products, but also become modern citizens, with knowledge, bravery, and a rich spiritual life. That is the sustainable foundation for a long-term Vietnam development.
