The forum includes 4 dialogue sessions, focusing on 5 groups of issues: Employment, wages, income; insurance, safety and health; housing, essential welfare; labor relations, the role of Trade Unions; skills, productivity and adaptability.
Prompt recommendations from the grassroots level
Ms. Mau Thi Quang (born 1977) - a member of the grassroots Trade Union of Tien Dat Wood Industry Joint Stock Company (under Quy Nhon Tay Ward Trade Union) - proposed considering the retirement age suitable for each profession.
According to Ms. Quang, jobs such as sewing, wood processing, stone processing and some specific occupations require health, while the physical strength of workers (NLĐ) decreases with age, but the working intensity is still high. Many workers over 50 years old face difficulties when they have to continue working for many years before reaching retirement age.
Ms. Quang proposed that the province propose to the Central Government to study flexible retirement age according to occupational groups, especially heavy, hazardous or health-threatening occupations; it is possible to consider male retirement around 60 years old, female retirement around 55 years old or stipulate appropriate levels for each occupation.
We hope that the retirement policy will take into account both age, health and job characteristics, so that employees when they reach the age of not being able to work can be given appropriate leave," Ms. Quang expressed.
Through online form, union members of the grassroots Trade Union of Ha Thanh Forest Product Processing Joint Stock Company proposed that the Education sector proactively ensure sufficient textbooks for students before each school year.
Currently, there is still a situation of students lacking books, while the number of students is updated annually by the locality, so basic needs can be predicted in advance. Therefore, it is necessary to proactively allocate and supply books, especially for disadvantaged students, remote and isolated areas, not to let book shortages affect learning.
Tens of thousands of students still lack books
Regarding the retirement age proposal, Mr. Pham Tran Anh - Deputy Director of Gia Lai Provincial Department of Home Affairs - said that the Labor Law, the Law on Occupational Safety and Health and the Law on Social Insurance all take into account factors of age, health and professional characteristics.
The Department of Home Affairs requests businesses and trade unions to review the list of heavy, hazardous, and dangerous occupations and jobs in accordance with reality; and at the same time support career change and arrange lighter jobs for employees.
Regarding the shortage of textbooks, Mr. Tran Thanh Hai - Deputy Director of Gia Lai Department of Education and Training - said that this is a difficult issue for the Education sector in the first year of implementing a set of textbooks.
The province has a policy of buying books to lend to students at ethnic minority boarding schools, poor households and ethnic minority students. Currently, they have registered to buy to ensure the source of books for students.
However, books bought from outside are still locally lacking. In primary school alone, there are more than 284,000 students, of which more than 27,600 students do not have textbooks; more than 25,950 students lack 1-2 books.
The Department of Education and Training has compiled statistics on the number of missing books and sent them to the Ministry of Education and Training for supply. Initially, the Department established a channel to provide bookstore links for education departments to update weekly or monthly, and send them to schools to serve students.
Currently, the Publishing House has provided the provincial bookstore with about 1,055,000 books to distribute to all levels of education. According to the roadmap, it is expected that by the end of the first semester, the books will be fully guaranteed," Mr. Hai added.
Mr. Ha Duy Trung - Member of the Executive Committee of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, Vice Chairman of the Provincial Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee, Chairman of Gia Lai Provincial Labor Federation - said that the Provincial Trade Union will summarize and coordinate with relevant units to answer unresolved petitions.
The organizers will classify recommendations into 3 groups: that have been answered, need to continue to verify and propose to competent authorities for dialogue, in order to clearly define the handling direction, not stopping at recording at the forum.
