Income equality
Many people think that working in the commune is easy, going in the morning and leaving at night, but in fact we work no less than a higher-level land officer. There are days when we process up to a few dozen records, going to the field from morning to night" - Mr. Nguyen Van Hung, a land official of a commune in Phu Tho province, told reporters.
Mr. Hung explained that the reason is that commune civil servants are not entitled to allowances like provincial civil servants, especially public service allowances and responsibility allowances. Because he did not concurrently hold any other positions, he did not have any additional monthly deposits.
"I have friends who work in district-level land clearance (old), the salary coefficient is the same, but they have additional allowances for responsibilities and public services, the total is nearly a million VND/month higher than me" - Mr. Hung shared.
Similarly, Ms. Le Thi Mai - a cultural and social civil servant of a ward in Lao Cai province said that she does all kinds of work: From propaganda, festival organization, emulation movement... but before, most of her income was still only calculated on the fixed allowance coefficient. From July 1, 2025, when the amended Law on Cadres and Civil Servants takes effect, commune-level civil servants will officially be ranked as administrative civil servants, receiving salaries according to the professional - technical salary table.
"Now, commune civil servants also have the same strive line as everyone else, with a clear framework, no longer the " bound" type in fixed allowances. For me, it is much more fair" - Ms. Mai said.
According to Mr. Nguyen Quang Dung - Director of the Department of Civil Servants and Public Employees (Ministry of Home Affairs), the revised Law on Cadres and Civil Servants and Decree 170/2025 have fundamentally changed the thinking of salary payment and civil servant assessment.
Previously, to increase salaries, civil servants had to "tak a promotion exam". For example, from specialist to senior specialist, or from senior specialist to senior specialist, you must take the promotion exam after 9-15 years of work. But from now on, civil servants will be recruited and have their salaries arranged according to the job position from the beginning, as long as they meet the capacity standards, qualifications and job requirements.
"The head of the unit will be responsible for arranging the right people in the right positions, according to clear criteria. If the arrangement is wrong but that person does not complete the task, we must replace him with another person, said Mr. Dung.
According to Mr. Dung, this change is one of the important steps to remove the mechanism of "ungasting and leveling" in the public service system. Civil servants cannot be promoted only by working and taking exams, but must prove their practical effectiveness.
Abolish the mechanism of "unleashing troops and leveling"
The Government has recently issued 4 new Decrees guiding the Law on Cadres and Civil Servants, effective from July 1, 2025 with notable changes: Unifying the management of civil servants from the Central to the commune level; eliminating promotion exams; managing civil servants according to job positions; eliminating the form of dismissal; allowing the signing of contracts to attract experts.
Mr. Nguyen Quang Dung said that these Decrees take effect simultaneously with the Law on Cadres and Civil Servants to ensure consistency and timeliness in implementation. This Law no longer discriminates between central, provincial or commune civil servants in terms of policies, that is, unifying a common salary system for all cadres and civil servants in the administrative apparatus.
Not only that, Resolution 76/2025 of the National Assembly Standing Committee and Decision 759 of the Prime Minister on the rearrangement of administrative units and local governments at both levels also clearly state: The cadres, civil servants and public employees in the locality after the rearrangement will continue to receive the current regime and allowances for 6 months. After this time, they will be applied a new salary regime suitable for their working position - regardless of administrative level.
This is considered a soft transition step, aiming to reduce income disruption and ensure security for the staff after the restructuring of the apparatus. At the same time, it will pave the way for comprehensive salary reform in the coming period.
The issue of increasing salaries for cadres after the merger was also discussed by National Assembly deputies at the 9th session of the 15th National Assembly.
Delegate Nguyen Hoang Bao Tran said: "It is necessary to reform salaries for commune-level cadres, because without a fundamental policy, it will lead to unwanted consequences. Salary increase is a motivation, a real recognition for those who remain to serve in the new apparatus".
Meanwhile, delegate Nguyen Thi Thu Nguyet frankly said: Department directors and commune chairmen will have much heavier responsibilities after the merger. We cannot use the old salary to pay for a new job with greater pressure".
Delegate Duong Van Phuoc shared: The commune level is the place where people have the most contact, implement policies, and resolve administrative procedures. If resources - both human and treatment - are not invested in, administrative reform will be delayed and the effectiveness of implementation will decline."
National Assembly deputies all think that it is difficult to ask a person to wholeheartedly devote himself to work if their personal life is not guaranteed. It is impossible to require commune officials to digitize procedures, be close to the people, close to the people, quickly resolve cases... if the salary they receive is only equal to the minimum level of the enterprise.
Increasing salaries for commune officials is not simply a payment, but an investment in an effective, professional and sustainable administrative system. That is also a way to avoid "grey bleeding" from the public sector to the private sector - an problem that has existed for a long time.
The salary increase for commune cadres after the merger needs to be quickly studied and implemented, because it is not only a story of the individual, but a problem for stabilizing the whole system.
Assigning authority associated with responsibility, closely monitoring to avoid negative consequences
Dr. Ha Quang Ngoc - former Deputy Chief of Office of the Ministry of Home Affairs, former Vice Principal of the University of Home Affairs commented: The elimination of the separate mechanism for commune civil servants is a reasonable step in the context of the grassroots government being upgraded in quality.
"When the job requirements are high, the commune has many professional positions such as land administration, justice, culture... then recruitment according to civil servant standards is inevitable. Now that the income line has been removed, it means that commune civil servants are also part of the common system, said Dr. Ngoc.
However, according to Dr. Ngoc, building a salary system according to job positions is difficult, because each position requires a separate salary scale. If the design is unreasonable, it will lead to a huge gap, causing loss of motivation among low-income people or creating barriers for recruitment in high-paying positions.
Dr. Ha Quang Ngoc also proposed that if we want to reform real wages, we must do 3 things in parallel: Standardize job positions, decentralize authority associated with responsibility, and strictly control output. If only the appointment authority is assigned without controlling post-inspection and supervision of public duties, it is easy to have negative consequences.
