Many senior drivers from departments, agencies and sectors of Yen Bai province sent petitions to Lao Dong Newspaper asking for help about their salaries being reduced due to new local regulations.
A typical example is the case of Mr. Tran Quyet Tien - a 39-year driver at the Department of Transport of Yen Bai province - but in October 2024, he received a salary of 4,923,000 VND. Mr. Tien said: "The family's already tight economy is now even more difficult when my salary and allowances have decreased from 8 million to less than 5 million VND after paying social insurance."
Even with the same salary as before, it was only enough to live on, reduced by almost half, everyone was short of money.
Furthermore, the double disadvantage is that low salary will affect social insurance contributions and pensions will also decrease.
Why is it that the salary of drivers in state agencies is lowered so low?
After the Yen Bai Provincial People's Council issued Resolution No. 67 dated December 8, 2023 on the assignment of administrative civil servant payrolls and the number of people receiving state budget salaries in public service units, the governing body signed new labor contracts under the guidance of the Department of Home Affairs. Accordingly, the salaries of senior drivers like Mr. Tien were reduced by 30-50% due to the absence of public service allowances as before.
Yen Bai province is rearranging the administrative staff, but no matter how it is implemented, the lives of workers must be taken into account. Ask those who make this decision, with a salary of 5 million VND/month, can you afford to spend, live, and take care of your family and children?
Human life is not only about rice, fish sauce and salt, but also many other social relationships such as weddings, funerals... Not to mention, each person also has needs for cultural and spiritual life and cannot do without money.
To make up for the shortage, everyone has to make a living by working overtime, but not everyone has the conditions to do so. If there is work, it is very precarious and unstable.
A group of drivers with blue license plates filed a petition to the Department of Home Affairs of Yen Bai province, hoping to have their rights considered and resolved, their income guaranteed, and their social insurance contributions maintained at the previous level to receive their pension.
The workers' petition is legitimate. They have worked in state agencies for about 20 years. We cannot let them fall into a difficult situation because their income is too low.
