Part 3: "Solving the problem" of surplus staff
Over 1,000 officials, civil servants, and public employees in Nghe An (excluding non-specialized staff) will become redundant when administrative units are reorganized during the 2023-2025 period. How can we ensure a satisfactory solution to this surplus personnel problem? The key lies in effectively carrying out ideological work from the outset.
Over 1,000 officials, civil servants, and public employees in Nghe An (excluding non-specialized staff) will become redundant when administrative units are reorganized during the 2023-2025 period. How can we ensure a satisfactory solution to this surplus personnel problem? The key lies in effectively carrying out ideological work from the outset.
Reporters' Team • August 30, 2024
With a large number of redundant officials and civil servants in localities subject to restructuring, how can we ensure that the right people are placed in the right positions, matching their abilities and expertise, while streamlining and simplifying the workforce effectively and efficiently? This is a difficult problem for those involved in organizational work and public relations.
It is projected that the merger of Cua Lo town into Vinh city will result in a surplus of 207 officials, civil servants, and public employees. At the commune level in Nghe An province, the restructuring is expected to create a surplus of 799 people (374 officials and 425 civil servants).
In Dien Chau district, according to the administrative unit restructuring plan for the period 2023-2025, which will reduce 10 communes to 5, the locality will have a surplus of 98 commune-level officials and civil servants. Along with disseminating information about the merger plan, the district has focused on publicizing the plan for assigning officials and civil servants and the policies for resolving the surplus. Many officials and civil servants, especially key leaders, have set a good example in implementing the restructuring plan, so the majority of officials, civil servants, and non-specialized personnel involved understand, agree with, and support the policy.
Ms. Ho Thi Tam, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairwoman of the People's Committee of Dien Thanh Commune, is one of them. When the entire natural area and population of Dien Thanh Commune and Dien Chau Town were merged to form a new administrative unit named Dien Thanh Town, there would be a surplus of 20 people (8 officials and 12 civil servants). As a key official, and having a firm grasp of the policies and significance of the administrative merger, Ms. Ho Thi Tam took the lead in registering to retire three years ahead of schedule to create opportunities for the younger generation to contribute.
Comrade Ngo Sy Thanh - Member of the Standing Committee and Head of the Mass Mobilization Department of Dien Chau District Party Committee - affirmed: Thanks to thorough dissemination and understanding of the policy on administrative unit restructuring, the staff and civil servants in the units undergoing mergers in the 2023-2025 period have shown high levels of agreement. Many officials are very relaxed and happy, and have committed to readily retiring under the redundancy scheme after the administrative unit restructuring, even though they still have many years left before reaching the legally mandated retirement age.
In all districts and communes undergoing this restructuring phase, propaganda and ideological work were carried out to encourage those who met the criteria and conditions within the framework to retire early; at the same time, serious evaluation and classification of cadres and civil servants were conducted, serving as a basis for removing those who lacked competence or a high sense of responsibility from the system. In addition, priority was given to transferring and rotating cadres and civil servants from merged units to units with staff shortages, and recruiting them as district-level civil servants or transferring them to public employee positions…
The current concern is that the majority of officials and civil servants have standardized qualifications. Older individuals tend to have more experience and contributions, while younger people are more dynamic, creative, and energetic. This poses a challenge for local authorities, requiring careful research and consideration to ensure a systematic, scientific, and objective approach, assigning the right person to the right job.
Drawing on lessons learned from the administrative reorganization period of 2019-2021, as we enter the 2023-2025 period, the Standing Committee of the Nghe An Provincial Party Committee has requested the Standing Committees of the district, city, and town Party Committees to temporarily suspend the recruitment and acceptance of civil servants and public employees. They are also temporarily suspending the addition of Party committee members and the appointment of leading and managerial cadres at the district and commune levels throughout the province until the provincial-level overall plan for the reorganization of district and commune-level administrative units for the 2023-2025 period is approved by the competent authority.
The Provincial Steering Committee for Administrative Unit Reorganization also directed that, simultaneously with preparing the overall plan for administrative unit reorganization, localities must review, calculate, and prepare a plan for the rational arrangement and placement of personnel once the overall plan is approved by the National Assembly Standing Committee. This is a very new point in Nghe An province's direction compared to the reorganization in the 2019-2021 period.
Over 1,000 officials and civil servants at the district and commune levels will be laid off through various means, including: retirement at the standard age; retirement under Decree 26/2015/ND-CP and Decree 29/2023/ND-CP; transfer to other jobs or units with staffing shortages. Policies for redundant personnel will be applied according to Resolution 35 of the National Assembly Standing Committee and two government decrees: Decree 29 on downsizing the workforce and Decree 33 on commune-level officials and civil servants.
The Department of Internal Affairs has drafted a Resolution to be submitted to the Provincial People's Committee at its regular meeting in July 2024 and will present it to the Provincial People's Council for promulgation as soon as possible. Recently, on August 28, 2024, the Standing Committee of the Nghe An Provincial Party Committee approved the policy to support redundant officials, civil servants, and public employees due to administrative unit restructuring. After the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee approves the policy, the Provincial People's Committee will submit it to the Provincial People's Council for consideration and promulgation of the Resolution. The total estimated cost for implementing this policy is 76 billion VND.
The aforementioned policies show exceptional concern, creating a sense of security and comfort for officials and civil servants in the restructured units, whether they continue to work or retire.
At the 21st session of the 18th Provincial People's Council, held in July 2024, the Provincial People's Council selected the issue of arranging redundant personnel after the merger of administrative units for questioning and answering. Twenty members of the Provincial People's Council asked questions and debated key issues, reflecting concerns and anxieties of great interest to voters, delegates, and the public.
In response to questions, the Director of the Nghe An Department of Internal Affairs, Nguyen Viet Hung, clarified the solution for redundant officials, civil servants, and non-specialized personnel. Accordingly, for the 207 redundant officials, civil servants, and public employees following the merger of Cua Lo town into Vinh city, a plan and roadmap for reduction has been developed: 44 in 2025, 39 in 2026, 42 in 2027, and 41 each in 2028 and 2029. For the 799 redundant commune-level officials and civil servants after the reorganization, the plan and roadmap for reduction are as follows: 297 in 2025, 129 in 2026, 111 in 2027, 119 in 2028, and 143 in 2029.
The Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and Chairman of the Provincial People's Council of Nghe An, Thai Thanh Quy, requested the Provincial People's Committee to promptly finalize the draft Resolution on policies to support cadres, civil servants, public employees, workers, non-specialized personnel, and other redundant individuals due to the reorganization of district and commune-level administrative units in Nghe An province, to be submitted to the Provincial People's Council. The draft should be transparent, open, clear, and in accordance with central government regulations, while also being consistent with the province's resources.
The oversight by the elected body, the Provincial People's Council, has contributed to the openness and transparency of programs, plans, mechanisms, and policies regarding the reorganization of administrative units in general, and the policies and regulations for redundant officials, civil servants, and non-specialized personnel in particular.
Media outlets in the province and online information portals at all levels have also intensified their efforts in disseminating information and promoting the administrative unit restructuring process, contributing to building greater trust among officials, Party members, and the people in supporting the restructuring. The implementation process has fully promoted democracy, openness, transparency, and enhanced civic responsibility and obligations at the grassroots level.
(To be continued)
