Concerns about the role of the superior union through the incident at Halotexco Textile Joint Stock Company

From an unstable event

On the morning of February 17, at D Joint Stock Companytailor Hoang Thi LoanThere was an incident where many workers gathered in front of the company gate to demand their rights. The reason is said to be because the company issued a notice to terminate the labor contracts of 119 workers (out of a total of 387 workers) on December 13, 2024, due to difficulties in production and business. This notice clearly stated that the total amount of unemployment benefits for these workers is more than 2.8 billion VND, the severance pay is more than 72 million VND, and will be paid in accordance with the provisions of the law.

Believing that the company's solution was unsatisfactory, these workers repeatedly made recommendations to the company's leaders but did not reach the desired agreement.

Previously, on January 17, 2025, the workers directly worked with the company's leaders and requested the company to pay the regime and 13th month salary in accordance with the provisions of law and the company's Collective Labor Agreement. However, up to now, the regime amount of the workers (including the 13th month salary in 2024, 2024 leave allowance, January salary support, and unemployment benefits for employees working at the company before January 1, 2009) has not been fully paid.

Specifically, the workers whose labor contracts were terminated only received a one-time payment of VND2 million into their personal accounts on February 14. Meanwhile, many workers received a total of VND100-170 million in benefits. Worried about this type of small-scale payment, on the morning of February 17, on the first working day of the week, about 50 out of 114 workers gathered in front of the company gate to request the company to pay benefits in accordance with regulations and the collective labor agreement signed in 2023.

After understanding the situation, an interdisciplinary team consisting of government representatives, police forces and officials of the Vinh City Labor Federation were present to grasp information and participate in resolving the issue. After understanding the workers' wishes and working with the company's leaders, the interdisciplinary team asked the workers to compile a list of wishes, and the company's leaders to arrange personnel and promptly arrange time to organize a dialogue, satisfactorily resolve and remove the problem for the workers.

On the afternoon of February 20, the company's leadership held a dialogue with representatives of workers and employees with the participation of representatives of the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Nghe An province, the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Vinh city, the City Labor Federation and representatives of Ben Thuy ward authorities. Here, workers continued to request the company to resolve the one-time termination regime in accordance with the provisions of the law. However, the company's leadership affirmed that the current financial situation could not be paid in one go and could only be maintained by paying in installments each month. The company also proposed to accept workers back to work if needed, but the workers' representatives did not agree. Because they could not find a common voice and could not come up with a solution, at the end of the meeting, the workers did not sign the dialogue minutes, continued to gather in front of the company gate and said they would file a lawsuit for the court to decide.

On February 25, the leaders of Hoang Thi Loan Textile Joint Stock Company sent a notice to employees and workers whose labor contracts were terminated. The notice stated: The remaining amount of 2024 leave, 13th month bonus and January 2025 salary support will be paid to employees before March 31, 2025; The amount of unemployment benefits for eligible employees will be balanced and notified later.

Role of the superior union?

When an incident related to the interests of workers and labor relations conflicts occurs, people often immediately think of the role of the trade union. Accordingly, the Trade Union of Hoang Thi Loan Textile and Garment Joint Stock Company is under the Vietnam Textile and Garment Trade Union, so the main responsibility for grasping and resolving it belongs to the Vietnam Textile and Garment Trade Union.

With nearly 30 years of working at Hoang Thi Loan Textile Joint Stock Company, Mr. Ngo Van Thien - a representative of the terminated workers, frankly said: “Before deciding to gather like this in front of the Company's gate, we had sent petitions many times, politely and openly requesting but were not listened to or acknowledged. The Chairman of the Company's Union himself is also subject to termination of labor contracts this time, the superior union that we belong to is all the way in Hanoi, how can we grasp the workers' thoughts to resolve them promptly? This is the last resort, we have to gather like this to attract everyone's attention, to be heard and to protect our legitimate interests!”.

Since learning about the unrest among workers at Hoang Thi Loan Textile Joint Stock Company, together with local authorities and relevant agencies, the Vinh City Labor Federation has closely followed the situation and accompanied the workers.

Sharing about the incident, Mr. Thai Le Cuong - Chairman of the Vinh City Labor Federation said: “To prevent conflicts in labor relations, trade unions at all levels need to closely monitor and grasp the thoughts and situations of workers. For units under the Central Trade Union such as Hoang Thi Loan Textile Joint Stock Company, due to the long geographical distance, this understanding is difficult to implement, and it is inevitable that there will be situations beyond control. Because this company is located in Vinh City, according to regulations, we are responsible for participating in resolving the issue with the authorities. However, our role is only relative, we cannot deeply intervene or provide decisive solutions, this is really a big problem”.

Notably, this is not the first time the Vinh City Labor Federation has participated in resolving conflicts at this company. In 2023 and 2024, workers and employees of this enterprise organized collective work stoppages and Vinh City Labor Union officials repeatedly traveled to participate in dialogue and resolve the conflict.

Sharing the same opinion with Mr. Thai Le Cuong, Ms. Hoang Thi Thu Huong - President of the Dong Nam Economic Zone Trade Union said: “I have participated in resolving cases in many units under the Central Trade Union in the province. The common point in most of these cases is that they were not resolved thoroughly, leading to disadvantages for workers. One of the main reasons is the lack of close direction from the higher-level trade union, "water far away cannot put out a nearby fire". To limit this situation, I think there needs to be close and clear coordination between the higher-level trade union at the Central level and the district and industry trade unions at the local level".

With the reality of the worker security situation in recent years, it is very necessary and important to grasp the thoughts and aspirations of workers and resolve conflicts between workers and businesses from the beginning. To do that effectively, it is necessary to research and change to have better management forgrassroots unionunder the Central Industry Union./.