10 o'clock at night still have to go to an urgent meeting
Mr. Nguyen Van Tam, Head of a village in a commune in Tuyen Quang province, has been working at the grassroots level for more than 5 years.
This year, at the age of 58, Mr. Tam still travels around the village every day, sometimes going to people's homes to mobilize contributions to build roads, sometimes supporting poor households to repair dilapidated houses.
The work of a village chief, as he said, "is both a responsibility and a neighborhood affection", but it is also not uncommon.
"The village has more than 500 households, everything is in hand: From mediating conflicts, confirming documents, to organizing people's meetings. There are days when I still have to go at 10 am at night because there is something urgent" - he shared.
When hearing that some positions in villages and residential groups may be streamlined according to the organization arrangement roadmap, Mr. Tam could not help but worry.
"I am old, my health is declining, if I am no longer in office in the near future, I hope the State will have appropriate support policies, at least help stabilize life and make small contributions to the years I have contributed" - he confided.
There are still many concerns
Mr. Phung Van Vinh (46 years old, Minh Khai village, Nhu Quynh commune, Hung Yen province) has held the position of Head of Minh Khai village for 6 years, and is also the Secretary of the Village Party Cell.
Mr. Vinh said that Minh Khai village has a fairly large area, including three industrial clusters, craft villages and residential areas with nearly 1,200 households. There are currently hundreds of small production and business establishments in the village, hiring many workers from other places to work.
Therefore, the work of population management, ensuring security and order and maintaining a civilized lifestyle faces many difficulties.
"The workload in the village is very large. I have to regularly attend meetings in the commune to grasp the resolutions, then go to the village to implement and organize implementation; at the same time, manage residents and workers renting accommodation, ensure security and order... - Mr. Vinh shared.
Like many other households in Minh Khai, Mr. Phung Van Vinh and his wife are also operating a production and business facility in the village's craft village industrial cluster. This job brings him and his family a good income.
However, when he was trusted by the people, he decided to temporarily put his personal interests on hold to focus on the common work. "The most difficult thing is to balance housework and villagework. Sometimes we have to neglect family work to complete tasks and fulfill our responsibilities to the people" - he confided.
When asked about the plan after the villages are merged, Mr. Vinh said he still had many concerns: "After the merger, if I retire, I just hope that non-professional workers like us will receive a decent allowance, to partly compensate for the efforts".
The story of Mr. Tam and Mr. Vinh is also the common concern of many Village Heads, Heads of Residential Groups and Party Cell Secretaries across the country - those who are playing the role of a bridge between the government and the people at the grassroots level. They hope that the upcoming streamlining and arrangement policy will not only aim to streamline the apparatus, but also ensure legitimate rights for the team that has been devoted to the community for many years.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has just issued an official dispatch guiding the implementation of content related to part-time workers at the commune, village and residential group levels.
Accordingly, in Clause 2, Article 5 of Decree No. 154/2025/ND-CP dated June 15, 2025 of the Government on staff streamlining, stipulating the current monthly allowance for part-time workers at the commune level, in villages and residential groups as the allowance of the month immediately preceding retirement, with the central budget allocating the allowance fund for payment.
Currently, according to Decree 33/2023, part-time workers in villages and residential groups with no more than 3 positions (including Party Cell Secretary, Village Head or Residential Group Head, Head of the Front Work Committee) are entitled to monthly allowances.
