Need to resolve problems in recruiting full-time union officials

Legalizing the roles and responsibilities of trade union officials

For many years in the role of Chairman of the Trade Union of Haivina Kim Lien Co., Ltd. (Nam Dan), Mr. Le Van Son shared: “Article 24 of the 2012 Law on Trade Unions of Vietnam stipulates that the time for non-professional trade union duties is 24 hours/month for the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the grassroots trade union; 12 hours/month for Executive Committee members, Team leaders... In my opinion, a rigid regulation with a specific time limit like this is unreasonable. For a business with thousands of employees like ours, such time is not enough, too limited to complete the tasks and when it is rigidly regulated, it is very difficult for us to negotiate with the business owner. There should be flexibility in time to suit each grassroots trade union."

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I think that the process surrounding the term of office of union officials needs to be reviewed. Employers are not allowed to unilaterally terminate labor contracts, work contracts, fire, force quitting or transfer to other jobs for non-professional union officials without written consent from the Executive Committee of the grassroots Union and written consent from the Executive Committee of the immediate superior Union. In the case of employees who are non-professional union officials whose labor contracts, work contracts, are forced to quit or are illegally dismissed by the employer, the grassroots Union has the responsibility to request the competent State agency to intervene; if authorized, the grassroots Union will represent them in filing a lawsuit at the Court to protect the legitimate rights and interests of the union officials... Only then will union officials dare to stand up to protect the rights of employees without fear of repression or interference from the employer.

Mr. Le Van Son - Chairman of the Trade Union of Haivina Kim Lien Company Limited (Nam Dan).

Mr. Son's opinion is also the opinion of many union officials at the Workshop on the Draft Law on Trade Unions (amended) organized by the Provincial Labor Federation. According to Mr. Son, it is necessary to increase the responsibility of employers for trade union activities by the provisions of the law. Only then can the organization of trade union activities, typically legal propaganda, be easily organized, helping workers have training opportunities.

Sharing the view of enhancing the role of trade union officials in enterprises, Mr. Dang Van Hai - Chairman of the Education Trade Union, worried: "There should be regulations for trade union organizations in general, and grassroots trade union officials in particular, to participate in working sessions on socio-economic development issues and agencies and units. Every development of agencies and units, whether large or small, is associated with the contributions of union members and workers, directly related to the rights and responsibilities of union members and workers. As an organization that directly cares for and is close to workers, the trade union organization must grasp the development orientation of the unit."

Not only limited in role and position, in many agencies and units, union finances - which belong to the union, are controlled and interfered with by employers. "During the process of working and exchanging, we heard many union officials at other enterprises complain that the 2% union budget is not only monitored by the employer but also managed, controlled, and interfered with in terms of use. Each time an activity is organized, the union executive committee must ask for permission, causing many limitations in organizing activities for union members and workers. Sanctions in managing and regulating the use of union funds are still very loose, needing to be considered by lawmakers", Ms. Hoang Thi Thu Huong - Chairwoman of the Southeast Economic Zone Union shared.

To promote the role of trade union organizations in participating in the inspection, examination, and supervision of the activities of agencies, organizations, and business units, many trade union officials proposed to allow trade union organizations to be provided with information by State management agencies and competent authorities when needed. Because, in reality, there is a lot of information that trade union organizations request from State agencies (Tax, Social Insurance, etc.) to determine whether or not enterprises are taking advantage of trade union funds to make wrongful payments, but some State agencies cannot provide it due to the lack of legal regulations.

Difficulties in attracting and recruiting union officials

Another issue that many Nghe An Trade Union officials are interested in is increasing the union's initiative in arranging staff and removing recruitment policies to attract a team of experienced, mature full-time trade union officials from the grassroots.

According to Decision No. 1617/QD-TLĐ dated December 31, 2014 of the Presidium of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, for grassroots unions with 1,000 union members subject to social insurance salary fund calculation, 1 full-time union officer will be arranged to receive salary and allowances according to regulations from the union's financial source; for every 1,500 union members, 1 more full-time union officer will be arranged, but not more than 7 people receiving salary from the union's financial source. However, in reality, up to now, the whole Nghe An province has only had 1 full-time union officer at 1 FDI enterprise (now retired) and 1 full-time union officer at a State-owned enterprise (Nghe An General Hospital).

“Because I am a full-time union official in a state-owned enterprise, my work is basically smooth. However, for non-full-time union officials, receiving salaries from employers will prevent them from standing up to protect union members and workers, affecting the role and tasks of the union organization. I think that union officials must receive salaries and bonuses from the union organization's budget to be able to wholeheartedly devote themselves to their tasks,” said Mr. Nguyen Sy Toan - Chairman of the Nghe An General Hospital Friendship Union.

There are also many opinions that the issue of the payroll management mechanism for trade union levels must be based on task requirements, and cannot be leveled in payroll allocation. At the same time, it is necessary to increase the union's initiative in arranging the union staff.

Regarding this issue, Ms. Tran Thi Nguyet - Vice President of the Southeast Economic Zone Trade Union shared her opinion: "In the affiliated grassroots trade unions, it is not difficult for us to find potential factors, qualified enough to become full-time trade union officials. However, the important thing is whether the trade union organization is attractive enough to attract them or not, with their "brainpower" and position in the enterprise, they can be paid a salary of tens of millions of VND per month. This salary, the trade union organization cannot compete with".

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In practice, the number of union officials at all levels is not commensurate with the requirements of the task. Right at our unit, when it was established, the allocated staff was 3 people, but now the scale and number of grassroots unions, union members and workers have increased many times. In 2024 alone, there were 14 grassroots unions with 10,000 union members. With the current number of union officials, the union not only has difficulty in operating but also cannot promptly care for and protect the rights of workers.

Ms. Tran Thi Nguyet - Vice President of the Southeast Economic Zone Trade Union

The current shortcomings will be the human resource problem that the Vietnamese Trade Union in particular and lawmakers in general need to solve in the coming time.