Bustling 'quick market'

(Baonghean) - For many years now, in areas such as the Triangle flower garden, Kenh Bac bridge, Cua Nam flower garden, Nga 6..., Vinh city residents have become familiar with the image of freelance workers from suburban communes or neighboring districts gathering to wait for work...

Hard work

As the central location of Vinh City, where many main roads intersect, the fountain flower garden area (also known as the Triangle flower garden located in Quang Trung ward) has for more than ten years formed a "quick market".

Every day, there are dozens, sometimes even nearly a hundred people waiting for work, mainly from wards and communes on the outskirts of Vinh City and neighboring areas such as Hung Nguyen, Nam Dan, Nghi Loc... Most of them are farmers taking advantage of the off-season to find extra work, but many also consider this their official job, the main source of income for their families.

Ms. Pham Thi Hien from Dong Vinh Ward (Vinh City) said that she has been making a living from this profession for more than 10 years, except when she is sick or has special work at home. “Although this job is hard, the income is still better than farming, on average I earn about 200,000 VND per day. For farmers, especially women, this is already very good.”

Workers waiting for work at the triangle flower garden.

Through observation, it is easy to see that most of the workers in this "quickie market" are female, because the main work is carrying construction materials, cleaning furniture, cleaning the house, cleaning construction sites... which is suitable for women's health and diligence.

As for men, in addition to jobs such as heavy lifting, construction work, whitewashing, etc., they also have a "side" job as motorbike taxi drivers. Mr. Le Van Hung in Hung Xa commune (Hung Nguyen) said: "There are more and more people waiting for work, so there is less and less work. So I tried to save up to buy a motorbike to travel faster and also drive a motorbike taxi when I have customers."

In addition to the fountain flower garden, in Vinh City there are also a number of other “quickie markets” - places where many freelance workers waiting for work gather, such as Kenh Bac bridge, Cua Nam flower garden, 6-way intersection, Tran Hung Dao street, Cua Tien bridge... Their main means of transport is bicycle, accompanied by a jumble of shoulder poles, hoes, shovels, knives, sickles...

Mr. Tran Van Hoa - a worker waiting for work in the Cua Nam Flower Garden area said: “Our work is usually busiest at the beginning and end of the year because that is the time when many families build and repair their houses; but at this time there is very little work. Work is unstable, but if I quit now, I don't know what to do to continue making a living, and I also have to raise my children to go to school. I am over 40 years old, I applied to work as a factory worker but no place would accept me...”.

Need to strengthen management

Walking through the “quiet markets”, one can see that there is little work but many people. While waiting, some lie down, some sit, vehicles, and carrying poles take up the entire sidewalk and roadside, while others pick vegetables… Every time someone comes to hire someone, everyone rushes out to fight for work, haggle with the hirer, causing disorder and affecting traffic safety.

Not to mention, when no one comes to hire them, some male workers gather in groups to gamble for money, sometimes arguing loudly in a corner of the street... At noon, these groups of people put out rice balls and rice bags to eat and litter the sidewalk.

Through conversation, it was learned that their work also contained many risks. It is common that there is only a verbal agreement between the employer and the employee, so when conflicts arise, the employee often has to accept the loss.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Lam in Hung Nguyen district said: “Once, my group agreed to carry construction materials for a 4-storey house for 20 million VND on Pham Dinh Toai street. At first, I was very happy because building a 4-storey house means at least having regular work for 5-6 months.

However, when there were only a few days left to finish the rough construction, the homeowner and the contractor had a problem. The homeowner did not pay the contractor, so we only received an advance payment of 5 million VND, the remaining 15 million VND was considered lost.

In addition, during work, there are some cases of accidents such as sprained legs, arms, soft tissue injuries, even broken bones... all treatment costs are completely covered by the employee.

Workers waiting for work at Nga 6 market.

In the process of urbanization and labor structure shift in rural areas, the formation of "cho van" in Vinh city is inevitable, because where there is supply, there is demand. In order for these labor markets not to affect security, order, traffic safety and urban beauty, the ward authorities need to step in to strengthen reminders and rectify the chaos and sloppiness in the "cho van" markets.

Mr. Ha Thai Son - Chairman of Quang Trung Ward People's Committee said: "Since the establishment of the "cuu van market" in the fountain flower garden, we have always created conditions for them to work, because most of them are elderly people, due to difficult family circumstances, they have to come here to sell their labor.

Due to the nature of freelance work, management is not simple. Today they stand in one place, tomorrow they stand in another place, even moving to several locations in one day. However, up to now, we have not recorded any problems with security and order from the "market" of freelance workers located in this ward.

In Cua Nam ward, Mr. Tran Hoang Tuan - Vice Chairman of the ward People's Committee said: "During the times the ward's urban order team took action to eliminate the encroachment of sidewalks and roadsides, the team also reminded the workers waiting for work at Cua Nam flower garden not to stand or sit on the sidewalk, not to litter, but no violations have been handled. These subjects are poor people, so the team was somewhat "lenient"."

Minh Quan - Canh Nam