For the sustainable development of Cua Tile Village

(Baonghean) - Cua tile village (Nghia Hoan - Tan Ky) was granted a certificate of recognition by the provincial People's Committee in 2006. It is one of the rare craft villages in the country that has developed during the economic recession and won many noble titles. However, due to the undemocratic way of doing things, conflicts have arisen, causing the lawsuits to drag on. The incident is threatening to bring the craft village to a standstill.

Remarkable development of Cua tile industry

Cua - a place in Nghia Hoan commune, about 12 km from Tan Ky district center. This place used to be a poor countryside, but now it has changed thanks to a mine of sticky black soil suitable for making bricks and tiles. According to some locals, in early 1980, Mr. Hoang Anh Kiem, a native of Ha Nam Ninh, came to work as a worker here and discovered a valuable soil mine in Cua field and invested money to build a Cua tile kiln. To expand the scale, in 1984-1985, Mr. Kiem mobilized 4 more households, Hoang Van Tu, Hoang Van Tan, Dang Xuan Que, Thai Ba Ngo, to open a tile kiln. Due to the effectiveness of tile making, the number of households investing in tile making has increased continuously. By 2006, Cua Tile Village had 125 households participating with 137 tile kilns, some households had 2 kilns and has remained stable until now. Products of Cua tile village are supplied to all markets in the Central provinces, favored by consumers because they are strong, smooth, have beautiful designs and are cheaper than many other types of tiles of similar quality. Thanks to that, most of the Cua tile makers in Nghia Hoan have tall houses, beautiful doors, and expensive cars. It is also from the development of this profession that Nghia Hoan center is increasingly bustling. To recognize, honor and further develop the Cua tile village, Nghe An Provincial People's Committee recognized the Cua tile village in Decision No. 956/QD. UBND dated March 21, 2006.

Cua Nghia Hoan tile making village creates jobs for nearly 1,000 workers.

After being recognized as a craft village, the households together established the Cua tile craft village cooperative with an initial charter capital of 1,272 million VND, a total of 125 members, 959 technical workers, and nearly 1,500 unskilled workers. If in 2005, the new craft village achieved a revenue of 41,040 million VND, a profit after tax of 1,750 million VND, then after 3 years of establishing the cooperative, the craft village, the cooperative achieved a revenue of 80,900 million VND, a profit after tax of 13,060 million VND, and paid the budget 2 billion VND. By 2012, the total revenue of the cooperative reached 120 billion VND, a profit after tax of 17.826 billion VND, paid the budget 2.1 billion VND, an average income of 66.5 million VND/worker/year, and an average income of 190 million VND/member/year. The members of the craft village are mainly rich households (80/125 households), with nearly 100 cars of various types and 16 bulldozers. Income from Cua tiles accounts for 54.4% of the economy of the whole Nghia Hoan commune. Many households are good producers such as Nguyen Van Hanh, Hoang Van Binh, Dang Xuan Luong, Vo Van Cau, Ho Xuan Dong...

To achieve that, the Cooperative Management Board has invested capital to expand production and business, innovate technology, equipment and facilities. Actively and proactively cooperate with mass media agencies to promote the Cua tile brand. Actively cooperate with partners and sales agents inside and outside the province to consume products and expand the market. The Cooperative also holds seminars on technological innovation, improving product quality. Production facilities have proactively invested in stamping machines, extruders, facilities, and innovated production equipment from soil preparation to finished products, thanks to which Cua tile products are increasingly durable and beautiful, accepted by the market, and have reasonable prices. The Cooperative is determined to build a small industrial park to ensure environmental hygiene and ensure the health of workers. In phase 1, craft village members have deployed the construction and installation of a high-tech blank supply line system with a total value of 9.3 billion VND.

From 2003 to 2012, the Cooperative was awarded 6 certificates of merit by the Provincial People's Committee for its achievements in the excellent production and business movement; 5 certificates of merit by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance, achieving the title of National Strong Production and Business Cooperative in 2008; In 2010, the People's Committee of Nghe An province awarded the title of Excellent Labor Collective; and the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance awarded the title of National Advanced Model Cooperative for 10 years (2003 - 2012). In 2013, the Central Association of Vietnamese Craft Villages awarded the Certificate of Honor and the Vietnam Outstanding Cooperative Medal. The Vietnam Quality Institute awarded the Vietnam Quality Gold Medal; Nguoi Ha Noi Newspaper awarded the Golden Cup for Traditional Brands for Sustainable Development; Mr. Nguyen Van Hanh - Chairman of the Cooperative was awarded 2 certificates of merit by the Provincial People's Committee for his excellent performance in completing his tasks in 2008 - 2009 and 2011 - 2012.

In the success of the craft village today, many craft village members and local leaders recognize the dedication and contributions of the individual Chairman of the Cooperative, Nguyen Van Hanh. As the first chairman since the cooperative was established, he took the lead, worried about, and oversaw all work. Mr. Hanh has innovated economic thinking, introduced new technology into production, created increasingly high quality tiles, and reduced labor and working time. As the manager of the cooperative, the cooperative annually forecasts market demand, regulates general production, and stipulates that each household cannot produce more than 500,000 tiles per year, so there is no longer a situation where big fish eat small fish, and everyone does whatever they want. Now there is no situation where some people do too much, some people do too little. The kilns operate on their own based on the floor price set by the cooperative, the cooperative only manages quality, electricity, collects taxes, and ensures security and order in the craft village. These regulations are all stated in the charter and the annual planning congress. Mr. Hanh has also exploited the Party and State's policies on cooperative economic development and craft village development to build increasingly spacious cooperatives and craft villages, leaving a good impression on customers. The work of caring for and developing the brand has been carried out effectively.

Need to "filter out the muddy and bring out the clear"

Although some achievements have been made, however, due to haste, lack of democracy and some personal mistakes by the Chairman of the Cooperative, it has led to conflicts and complaints that have lasted for a long time among the members of the Cua Tile Village Cooperative. If not resolved thoroughly, the craft village may fall into a deadlock. Mr. Nguyen Trong Huong and Vo Van Cau are members who reported: The Congress of members of the Cua Tile Village Cooperative for the 2009-2014 term elected 3 people to the Cooperative Management Board and 1 controller. During the management process, Mr. Nguyen Van Hanh repeatedly insulted Mr. Nguyen Hai Khanh and Mr. Dang Xuan Sy - Deputy Chairman of the Cooperative, and Mr. Thai Ba Cuong - Controller in meetings. Therefore, these people wrote resignation letters. Then, Mr. Nguyen Van Hanh appointed Mr. Nguyen Tien Cuong as Deputy Chairman without going through the congress of members. Therefore, nearly 50% of members wrote a request for an extraordinary congress, but Mr. Nguyen Van Hanh did not organize an extraordinary congress.

Some members also denounced: In economic management: In 2009, Mr. Nguyen Van Hanh signed a contract to buy an excavator for the cooperative for 2,040,000,000 VND, the red invoices were only 1,700,000,000 VND, and there were signs of profiteering for more than 300 million VND. In 2010, Mr. Nguyen Van Hanh signed a contract to buy a production technology line with An Phu Company worth nearly 360 million VND, until now the contract has expired but the technology has not been handed over, causing the cooperative to lose the above amount of money...

The conflict became more intense when the cooperative established a project to invest in renovating the production line of high-quality tile blanks worth 10 billion VND with contributions from members. This is the first phase of the modern tile production line to eliminate manual brick and tile kilns according to the Government's policy. Of the 125 members, only 53 households have contributed. The remaining households have not contributed yet, stating the reasons: Many households have not contributed enough money, some households do not trust, some people think that if the State abolishes manual brick kilns, the State must support the investment for the people, they do not want to spend their own money. Investing in a new line, a new brick kiln, of course, must eliminate the tile kiln, they will bear the loss.

After the inspection process, on December 31, 2013, Tan Ky District People's Committee issued Conclusion No. 19 pointing out 7 violations of the Management Board and Mr. Nguyen Van Hanh - Chairman of Cua Tile Village Cooperative. These are:

1- Mr. Nguyen Van Hanh, representing the Cooperative, signed a contract with An Phu Company to supply a technological line with a total contract value of 2,882 million VND, but did not secure a site to install the technological line. As a result, the contract could not be implemented, so the amount of 350 million VND transferred to An Phu Company has not been refunded to date.

2- The cooperative management board headed by Mr. Nguyen Van Hanh, due to limited legal awareness, the cooperative's economic management and operation were lax, leading to the payment for the purchase of excavators contrary to the contract, violating financial principles. Although there is no basis to conclude that there are signs of personal gain, this behavior has caused suspicion and negative public opinion among the cooperative members, causing a loss of 34 million VND to the state budget in VAT;

3- Mr. Hanh did not make a plan and did not follow the correct procedures to build a test furnace to produce new technology. Although the cooperative installed a hydraulic press to create new products through the test furnace, the results generated profits and the product quality was initially improved, but it was not commensurate with the total investment cost.

4- Mr. Hanh did not develop a detailed plan, did not develop an investment budget for the industrial cluster according to the Party and State's policies for all members to discuss, thus leading to many members lacking determination to invest and doubting each other;

5- Mr. Hanh used the cooperative's money for charity, supporting organizations and individuals with some spending items that lacked democracy;

6- Mr. Hanh does not have a suitable plan to maintain and improve the operational efficiency of the workshop used to repair machinery for members, despite having invested VND 205,084,000 in building the workshop;

7- Mr. Hanh has not fully disclosed economic activities and has not publicly disclosed the charter capital settlement of the Cooperative... Tan Ky District People's Committee has also requested the Cooperative, directly Mr. Nguyen Van Hanh, to correct the above violations.

Through the conclusion of Tan Ky District People's Committee and the investigation process, it can be seen that although the Cooperative Management Board and Mr. Nguyen Van Hanh have an important role in the development of Cua Tile Craft Village, it does not mean that the Cooperative Management Board and Mr. Nguyen Van Hanh personally have the right to let such serious violations happen. This is pushing Cua Tile Craft Village into a deadlock. The Cooperative Management Board and Mr. Nguyen Van Hanh personally need to really learn a profound lesson. In the process of implementing the tasks of developing the craft village, it is necessary to be public, democratic, and follow the correct procedures to create consensus among the members of the Management Board and members of the Cooperative, only then can the Cua Tile Craft Village Cooperative develop sustainably.

In the current conditions, the competition in the tile market is increasingly fierce, while the good soil mines in Cua are increasingly exhausted, leaving only surplus land for exploitation. If the cooperative does not invest in technological innovation, does not have soil-making machines, the tiles produced are not even, not smooth, and the price is not competitive, it will be very difficult to dominate the market. The cooperative management board is not simply operating the cooperative, collecting taxes on behalf of others, collecting electricity bills on behalf of others... but must also be dedicated, not afraid of innovation, know how to invest, organize production and business strategies, so that Cua tile products can continuously increase their competitiveness in the market. Therefore, the members of the Cua Tile Craft Village Cooperative need to be in agreement, clear-headed, "separate the bad and clear the good", correctly assess the "merits" and "crimes" of the Management Board as well as Mr. Nguyen Van Hanh personally in the process of developing the craft village, create conditions for the Management Board to work, and develop the craft village day by day... The members of the Cooperative should not, because of personal prejudices, organize prolonged complaints in a "toppling" style, causing instability in the craft village. This is negatively affecting the "brand" of Cua Tile Craft Village, causing not only the risk of further decline, but also the assets and capital of the members will be in deficit, loss, and the rights of the members of the Cooperative will not be guaranteed.

Article and photos:Pearl