Explaining the reduction in salary for drivers with blue license plates, Mr. Nguyen Van Trong - Director of Yen Bai Department of Home Affairs said that it was applied according to Resolution No. 67 dated December 8, 2023 of Yen Bai Provincial People's Council.
Mr. Trong analyzed: “Simply put, the previous salary of drivers included public service allowances (for departments, branches), Party allowances (for Party committees). According to Decree 111, business contracts no longer have these allowances. The Provincial People's Committee and the Department of Home Affairs do not pay themselves but assign agencies, units, and localities to balance to pay drivers and must not be lower than the regional minimum wage and the coefficient according to regulations.”
"The Department of Home Affairs has also researched solutions to support senior drivers who are about to retire, such as providing additional compensation, but the Department of Finance's response was baseless," Mr. Trong added.
As for the Yen Bai Department of Finance, Director Nguyen Thi Trang Nhung affirmed: “The Department of Finance’s viewpoint is that income cannot be lower than yesterday, workers’ lives must improve. Previously, senior drivers were receiving a salary of 10 million VND/month, now that they have signed a new contract, they cannot be given 5 million VND/month.”
Ms. Trang Nhung spoke very well and very reasonably, but where would we get the money to pay salaries that are not lower than before, let alone better?
The answer is, according to the Director of the Department of Finance, some agencies, units, localities, and leaders do not fully understand, leading to inadequacies and disadvantages for drivers, especially those with seniority. The contract here is the contract quantity and amount of money for the unit to allocate funds.
That means, for example, a unit is assigned 5 contract quotas, but does not use all 5 quotas to meet the work, so it can use that quota for employees so as not to reduce income.
According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Trang Nhung's explanation, the head of the agency, based on the assigned norms, must balance the finances so that employees receive salaries not lower than the minimum and contract levels.
So, finally, we must talk about the role of the leader. Whoever knows how to apply regulations and calculate reasonably to ensure income will benefit the workers, but if the leader is mechanical and applies resolutions rigidly, the workers will suffer.
The Director of the Department of Finance boldly stated: "I want to completely cut off the chain with senior drivers to implement as before because this number is not large enough for them to receive salary and pay social insurance as before, and for new drivers, the new Resolution will be applied. However, the Department of Home Affairs wants to move towards a true contract, so for now, it will still apply synchronously."
Does the Department of Home Affairs have machines?
