Caring for female workers' interests in the workplace

In order to coordinate the implementation of the pilot activity "Representing, caring for, protecting the legitimate rights and interests of female workers through dialogue at the workplace", on the morning of August 31, the Nghe An Provincial Labor Federation organized a working conference with Trung Lai Gas Lighter Manufacturing Co., Ltd. to select the content and prepare to organize the pilot dialogue activity.

Attending the meeting were representatives of the Women's Union of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor; Standing Committee, Propaganda - Women's Union Committee, Law Policy and Labor Relations Committee of the Provincial Labor Federation; Standing Committee, officials and experts of the Nghi Loc District Labor Federation; Executive Committee of the grassroots trade union and representatives of the employer of Trung Lai Gas Lighter Manufacturing Limited Company.

Trung Lai Vietnam Gas Lighter Manufacturing Limited Company was established in 2003, is an FDI enterprise specializing in manufacturing gas lighters for export. Currently, the company is employing 183 workers, of which 162 are female workers, 60 are raising children under 6 years old.

Over the years, the company has also implemented many policies on social security, signed Collective Labor Agreements with favorable terms.workerssuch as: Giving gifts on major holidays, lunch allowance, fuel allowance, travel allowance, housing allowance, allowance for children under 6 years old, periodic health check-ups, health classification, female workers who get married, are pregnant, or on maternity leave with children under 12 months old are given priority to sign new contracts, no requirement to work at night or overtime... From practical activities, in recent years, the rate of workers joining trade unions has increased from 50 - 60% to 100%.

However, the Executive Board of the Trade Union found that there are still some issues that need to be proposed to the Company's Board of Directors to provide more support for workers. Specifically, ensuring benefits for workers who have worked at the company for 5 years or more; Providing additional childcare support; Adding more benefits for pregnant female workers; Implementing annual obstetric and gynecological examinations for female workers...

On the company side, the Board of Directors also presented the production and business situation in the past time, especially the difficulties since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war. However, the company's Board of Directors has made great efforts to find enough orders for workers, ensuring income and benefits for workers.

Speaking at the conference, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Nhi - Vice PresidentProvincial Federation of Laborhas outlined the situation of female workers in the whole province. Accordingly, the female labor force accounts for more than 60% of the labor force in the whole province, the rate of establishing women's committees at grassroots trade unions is quite high. In addition to the superficial activities of the trade union organization, in-depth activities to care for female workers are of great interest, especially the model of "your health" with periodic health check-ups...

After a period of serious work, the conference has put forward many enthusiastic opinions, suggesting many policies that are both beneficial to employees and ensure the business and production situation of the company, which can be included in the Collective Labor Agreement. Acknowledging the sharing of the grassroots trade union and the comments of the members, the working group has gained more experience to complete the content of the conference program.

According to the plan of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, Nghe An is one of 6 provinces and cities selected to organize a dialogue on issues related to female workers. The dialogue is expected to be held in October 2023./.