Nghe An workers want to keep the current retirement age

On August 12, the Provincial Labor Federation coordinated with the National Assembly Delegation of Nghe An province to organize meetings with workers at 4 enterprises in the province to receive direct comments from workers and laborers on the content of the Draft Labor Code (amended). Comrades: Tran Van Mao - Deputy Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation, Nguyen Tu Phuong - Chairman of the Provincial Labor Federation led the working delegation. Photo: Thanh Quynh

The delegation worked at 4 enterprises including: Thanh Ngoc Construction and Trading Materials Joint Stock Company (Thanh Ngoc, Thanh Chuong); Prex Vinh Company Limited (Lac Son, Do Luong); SangWoo Vietnam Company Limited (VSIP Industrial Park, Hung Tay, Hung Nguyen) and Phu Linh Garment Company Limited (Dien Lam, Dien Chau).

The content of the consultation is to expand the maximum overtime agreement framework from 300 hours/year (according to current law) to 400 hours/year; increase the retirement age for women from 55 (according to current law) to 60 and for men from 60 (according to current law) to 62.

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At Thanh Ngoc Construction and Trading Materials Joint Stock Company (Thanh Ngoc Commune, Thanh Chuong District), there are nearly 100 workers, of which 80% are female workers directly involved in the production of bricks and other construction materials. Through consultation, most of the workers here wish to maintain the retirement age according to the current Law, which is 55 years old for women and 60 years old for men.

According to the workers' sharing with the working group, the production conditions here are unique, workers have to work in a toxic environment, harsh working conditions and exhausting work such as brick burning, transporting and loading products directly by hand. Therefore, workers often face many occupational diseases such as bone and joint diseases, respiratory infections after a period of 1 to 2 years of work.

“Even though I know that retiring early will not give me a high pension, I have to accept it because I am not healthy enough to work after the age of 50,” said Nguyen Thi Le (45 years old), a factory worker.

More than 80% of Thanh Ngoc Construction Materials and Trading JSC's employees are female and have to work in harsh working environments. Photo: Thanh Quynh

At Prex Vinh Company Limited (Lac Son Commune, Do Luong District), Ms. Tran Vo Thi Thuy (40 years old) - who has worked here for more than 5 years, shared: "We have to sit and sew for at least 8 hours/day, not including overtime. As a garment company, it requires workers to be flexible and agile in their operations. However, after the age of 40, workers' health begins to decline, and flexibility in operations is difficult to meet the requirements of the job. Personally, I think that increasing the retirement age as proposed by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs is only suitable for those who do desk work and indirect labor, while direct labor will find it very difficult to meet the requirements."

Regarding SangWoo Vietnam Co., Ltd. - VSIP Industrial Park (Hung Tay, Hung Nguyen), the representative of the Board of Directors also affirmed that the company prioritizes young, dynamic workers because their productivity and adaptability are much higher than that of older workers. If the retirement age for direct workers is increased, it will push older workers into a state of self-elimination when they cannot meet the increasing demands of the business.

“If we want to extend the retirement age, we must classify it according to specific and specific industries, as well as create an open mechanism for direct workers to choose,” a representative of Sangwoo Company's Board of Directors added.

The delegation exchanged with workers of Prex Vinh Company Limited (Lac Son commune, Do Luong district). Photo: Thanh Quynh

CThere should be appropriate compensation for overtime work.

At Phu Linh Garment Company - Hamlet 2 Nam Lam (Dien Lam Commune, Dien Chau District), workers expressed their wishes to the representatives of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation and the Provincial Labor Federation regarding overtime benefits.

Accordingly, although the need for rest of workers is the same, currently the working time of workers in the non-state sector is 8 hours more/week than that of the state sector. For special companies such as the garment industry, the winter period until near Tet is considered the peak period when the amount of goods to be produced and consumed is very large, so it requires workers to work overtime. Therefore, regarding overtime hours, it is necessary to calculate the overtime pay progressively according to the rate of later hours being higher than the previous hours.

Workers answer the survey to give their opinions on the Draft Labor Code (amended). Photo by Thanh Quynh

Sharing the same view, workers at Thanh Ngoc Construction Materials and Trading Joint Stock Company suggested that there should be surveys and dialogues to listen to the opinions of direct workers to deeply understand their wishes. Regarding the content of increasing overtime hours, it is necessary to calculate according to a progressive level to avoid the case where businesses do not recruit more workers, taking advantage of overtime to exhaust the workforce.