Nghe An Trade Union: Building the premise for breakthrough in the new period

PV:2021 is considered a year ofmany political events andvolatilesocio-economic. Does this affect the activities of the Trade Union, sir?

Mr. Kha Van Tam:Indeed, 2021 is an extremely volatile and special year. This is the first year to implement the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress, the 135th anniversary of International Labor Day (May 1), the 75th anniversary of the first time Vietnam organized International Labor Day and the election of deputies to the 15th National Assembly and People's Councils at all levels for the 2021-2026 term. In addition, the return of the 4th wave of the Covid-19 pandemic has severely affected all aspects of life, especially the lives and jobs of workers.

The unprecedented difficulties above are both challenges and opportunities, requiring Nghe An Trade Union to be proactive, innovative, creative, and promptly adapt, closely following the theme of the year "Improving the quality of grassroots trade union cadres", and developing appropriate action plans to complete the goals.

PV:Can you review some of the results that Nghe An Trade Union has achieved in the face of those opportunities and challenges?

Mr. Kha Van Tam:At the beginning of this year, the Nghe An Provincial Federation of Labor was assigned by the General Confederation of Labor to carry out 17 key targets and tasks. With the highest determination, the Provincial Federation of Labor exceeded 9 targets and completed 6 targets. Notable results include the work of recruiting union members; establishing grassroots union; training key union officers; organizing labor conferences, dialogues and Workers' Month...

The Provincial Federation of Labor launched an electronic information page on the occasion of Workers' Month 2021. Photo: DT

During the year, Nghe An Trade Union also achieved many important milestones such as: LaunchingwebsiteNghe An Provincial Trade Union organized "Tet Sum Vay" with a total donation of more than 12.3 billion VND; organized "Workers' Month", "Occupational Safety and Health Month" with the highlight being the program "Thanking Workers" with a total budget of more than 2.5 billion VND; Trade unions at all levels spent more than 6.4 billion VND to support, prevent and control the Covid-19 epidemic; Trade unions at all levels contributed more than 10,000 working days to organize Union Kitchens to serve the epidemic prevention work; Leading the country in the number of registrants and the number of people submitting initiatives in the program "75 thousand initiatives to overcome difficulties and develop"... In addition, many emulation movements to overcome difficulties, be creative, prevent and control the epidemic and contents related to legal policies - labor relations, propaganda, finance, women's work... also had many breakthroughs, reaping many remarkable achievements with specific and impressive numbers.

In addition to the functions and tasks of caring for and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of workers, this year the Provincial Federation of Labor also successfully advised on organizing the Conference to sign the Program of coordination between the Party Delegation of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor and the Standing Committee of the Nghe An Provincial Party Committee for the period 2021-2025 and the Regulations on coordination between the People's Committee of Nghe An province and the General Confederation on building trade union institutions in Nghe An province.

The Provincial Federation of Labor presents gifts to support frontline anti-epidemic forces. Photo: Contributor

PV:ToTo achieve these results, Nghe An Labor Union must have made great efforts. So how has the Provincial Labor Federation implemented its activities, sir?

Mr. Kha Van Tam:Nghe An Trade Union has closely followed the goals, targets and tasks assigned in resolutions, plans and action programs. In particular, Resolution 02 of the Politburo on "Innovation of organization and operation of Vietnam Trade Union innew situation" is considered a guideline and is thoroughly communicated by the Provincial Federation of Labor to each union member in the entire system through many forms. Based on the goals and actual situation in the locality, we proactively choose and promptly adapt to build a flexible, creative and appropriate action plan. When implementing, we assign, decentralize, and delegate specific powers, urge and supervise regularly to promptly orient and resolve problems.

Nghe An trade unions at all levels are present on all fronts against the epidemic. Photo: Document

A good plan but poor implementation will not bring results. This is the reason why it is necessary to promote the improvement of the quality of the union staff. Quality here includes awareness, capacity, responsibility and professionalism. In 2021, the Provincial Federation of Labor organized many training sessions on professional skills in union activities, launched many emulation movements, met online with more than 600 union staff at the grassroots level... Each union staff needs to be aware of the importance of the union organization as well as their key role in the organization in order to continuously learn and improve their qualifications and responsibilities. Only with enthusiasm, dedication and understanding can this force carry out good and influential activities, build trust in policy making, care for and protect the rights and interests of workers, and attract workers to the organization.

From that awareness, Nghe An Trade Union at all levels has boldly innovated its working methods, gotten closer to workers and achievedprograms with their own marksuch as the online contest "Nghe An province's trade union officials learn about the Resolution on innovation of organization and operation of Vietnam Trade Union in the new situation", Trade Union Kitchen, program to visit workers' dormitories, emergency support program for repatriated workers... Correct perception of the organization, the role of each trade union official and professional attitude has also created changes in all other activities, including administrative reform, opinion building, consulting work, propaganda...

The Provincial Federation of Labor awarded prizes to units with high achievements in the online contest "Nghe An Provincial Trade Union Officials Learn about the Resolution on Innovation in Organization and Operation of Vietnam Trade Union in the New Situation". Photo: DT

PV:Can you share about the direction of operations in 2022?

Mr. Kha Van Tam:Based on the orientation of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor and the actual situation in the locality, we have proposed the following theme of activities for 2022:“Caring for jobs and lives of workers; striving to fulfill to the highest extent the goals and tasks of the Resolution of the 12th Congress of Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, the Resolution of the 18th Congress of Nghe An Provincial General Confederation of Labor, term 2018 - 2023, the goals, targets and tasks of the Resolution of the Congress of trade unions at all levels”.

If 2021 is considered a starting year, 2022 will be considered an acceleration year with truly dynamic programs, in addition to annual activities. With this orientation, the entire Nghe An Trade Union system will present a detailed and practical roadmap for activities in the coming time.

PV:Thanks for the chat!