Need to improve the quality of collective labor agreements in enterprises

Attending the conference were comrade Kha Van Tam - Member of the Provincial Party Executive Committee, Chairman of the Provincial Labor Federation; the Policy and Law Committee of the Provincial Labor Federation, together with leaders of the Labor Federations of districts, cities, towns, and industry unions.

Vice President of the Provincial Federation of Labor Nguyen Chi Cong delivered the opening speech at the conference. Photo: DT

Pursuant to Resolution No. 01/NQ-DCT dated June 18, 2009 of the Presidium of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor on "Innovation, improvement of the quality of negotiation, signing and implementation of collective labor agreements",Provincial Federation of Laborachieved some remarkable results in 2020.
Accordingly, many units have implemented theget workers' opinionsand negotiations were conducted between the Executive Board of the Trade Union and the employer; The contents of the collective labor agreements have many provisions that enhance the rights of employees more than those prescribed by law (on working time, rest, job security, wages, bonuses, improved working conditions, some regimes for female employees, quality of shift meals, organization of vacation tours, visits when sick, sudden hardship allowances...); Some grassroots trade unions have invested time in directing and helping grassroots trade unions negotiate amendments and supplements many times before signing (Dien Chau, Hung Nguyen, Nam Dan District Labor Unions, Southeast Economic Zone Trade Unions, Trade Unions of Agriculture, Industry and Trade, Transport...).

Overview of the conference. Photo: DT

Basically, the Labor Federations of districts, cities, towns,unionThe industry has made great efforts to meet the quantity of collective labor agreements according to the targets set by the Provincial Federation of Labor. However, the quality of the collective labor agreements has not yet met the aspirations of the workers; The content beneficial to the workers in terms of wages, working hours, and rest hours is still limited, mainly focusing on the content related to the welfare of the workers; Many district and industry units have only tried to complete the quantity, not invested deeply in quality; Some units have not promptly replaced or supplemented the agreement when it expires; The implementation of the Agreement Library has not been carried out regularly...

The report of the Provincial Federation of Labor's Policy and Law Committee pointed out many shortcomings and limitations surrounding the content of signing collective labor agreements at enterprises. Photo: DT

The report also pointed out the shortcomings and causes leading to the above situation. Specifically, some district and sectoral labor federations have not paid attention to reviewing expired collective labor agreements to direct the signing of amendments and supplements; have not paid attention to training for grassroots union officials, have not self-scored each agreement, and have not reported promptly and periodically to the Provincial Labor Federation; Some business owners have not fully recognized the importance of the collective labor agreement and the responsibility to comply with the provisions of the law on collective labor agreements; Some business owners are afraid of being bound when signing provisions more favorable than the law in the collective labor agreement; Many grassroots union officials have not been proactive and have not boldly proposed that employers negotiate and sign collective labor agreements; The support of the team of experts for grassroots unions has not been really positive; District, city, town Labor Federations and Industry Trade Unions still lack coordination with state management agencies in inspecting and guiding enterprises in building, negotiating and signing collective labor agreements.

Based on that reality, the Policy and Law Committee has also proposed solutions and directions for implementation in 2021. With the general target of 100% of state-owned enterprises; over 80% of non-state enterprises negotiating and signing collective labor agreements, of which at least 30% of collective labor agreements are of type A, leaders of the Labor Federations of districts, cities, towns and industry unions have registered specific targets for each of their units.

Many quality opinions were raised at the conference. Photo: DT

Speaking at the conference, many delegates frankly pointed out the limitations of their units, the difficulties and inadequacies in the current signing of collective labor agreements, and at the same time proposed solutions and recommendations to improve the situation.

Chairman of the Provincial Labor Federation Kha Van Tam spoke at the conference. Photo: DT

Regarding the report contents as well as the opinions of the delegates, Chairman of the Provincial Labor Federation Kha Van Tam emphasized: Signing a collective labor agreement is a challenging issue in trade union activities and in the coming time, when labor relations become increasingly complicated, this content will become even more urgent. A difficult problem in this work is that the people directly negotiating the content for the collective labor agreements are union officials at grassroots unions who mainly hold part-time positions, lack experience and knowledge of the law... He also proposedunion levelsWe should find new approaches to solve this problem in a more practical and effective way. We need to consider the quality of the collective labor agreement as a measure of the capacity of union officials. At the same time, unions at all levels also need to review the quantity and quality of collective labor agreements, develop a project to improve the quality of collective labor agreements, and have a way to honor and disseminate quality collective labor agreements.