Difficulties in arranging work for over-age union cadres

(Baonghean) - Implementing Decision No. 289-QD/TW dated February 8, 2010 of the Central Party Secretariat on the Regulations on Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union Cadres, for many years, Party committees at all levels have paid attention to arranging jobs for cases of union secretaries who are over the age limit. However, by December 2016, Nghe An still had more than 60 grassroots union cadres who were over the prescribed age but had not yet been assigned jobs.

Creating conditions for growth

Nghe An currently has 694 grassroots unions and 565 grassroots union branches; including 480 commune, ward and town unions. Over the past years, Party committees and Youth Union Standing Committees at all levels have resolutely implemented the rotation and found solutions to solve the "output" problem for union cadres when they reach the working age according to regulations. In the past 5 years, the whole province has had 178 union cadres who are over the working age assigned to new tasks. Many localities have done this well, such as Quy Chau, Que Phong, Ky Son, Hoang Mai Town, Vinh City, Hung Nguyen, etc.

In these localities, the Standing Committees of districts and towns are very interested in the activities of the Youth Union and the arrangement of work for the Youth Union cadres who are over the age. Accordingly, the district leaders have annually held working sessions with the district Youth Union and the Party Committees of the communes to review the positions in order to promptly resolve the "output" for the commune Youth Union secretaries who have reached the age of adulthood.

For example, in the mountainous district of Ky Son, according to comrade Lu Quang Hung - Deputy Head of the District Party Committee's Organization Board, "Over the years, Party committees at all levels have always closely followed, monitored and arranged work for over-age union cadres. Therefore, before the Party Congress for the 2010-2015 term and the election of People's Councils at all levels, there were 4 cases that had not been transferred to work, but now, Ky Son has only one case, Mr. Lau Ba Xa - Secretary of the Muong Tip Commune Union, born in 1976, who has not been assigned work."

Comrade Lu Quang Hung said: "Through working with the grassroots party committee, based on reviewing the personnel work roadmap of Muong Tip commune, we have agreed on a plan to arrange a suitable position for comrade Xa when the Chairman of the commune Fatherland Front Committee retires."

Secretary of the Youth Union of Bac Thanh commune (Yen Thanh) Dang Trong Trung (left), born in 1979, is waiting for a new job assignment.

With similar views and methods, the Standing Committee of Tan Ky District Party Committee is also a unit that does a good job of reviewing and arranging jobs for union cadres who have reached adulthood. Comrade Bui Thanh Bao - Secretary of Tan Ky District Party Committee said: "Over the past 5 years, the district has worked many times with localities and the District Youth Union Executive Committee to deploy the model of a union branch secretary who is also a village team leader, both to create training conditions and to easily arrange jobs later. In addition, the District Party Committee also had many meetings with the District Youth Union and specific individuals to evaluate and find the most suitable solution to solve the output. If there are no more positions to transfer, the commune Party Committee is required to commit to a roadmap for arranging jobs for commune union cadres". Therefore, in Tan Ky district, there are currently only 5 cases of commune union secretaries who are over the age of transfer.

"Anxious" when over age

However, in some localities, there are still many cases where grassroots union officials are over the age limit but have not been assigned other jobs for various reasons. This has partly affected not only the mindset of each individual but also created a bottleneck for the work of rejuvenating the union staff. Born in 1978, participating in union work since 1998 with the starting point as the secretary of the village union branch, from 2005 to present, Mr. Tran Quoc Toan has held the position of Secretary of the Da Son Commune Union (Do Luong).

According to Mr. Toan, “after nearly 20 years of participating in activities and being a grassroots union leader, I have never lost my enthusiasm and passion for union work. However, the current difference in age psychology of up to dozens of years compared to the 8x and 9x generations of union members also makes the 7x generation of union branch secretaries like Mr. Tran Quoc Toan unable to help but think, worry and feel a bit nervous and apprehensive when he unintentionally slows down the development opportunities of the next generations just because he does not have a position to transfer to. And he also does not know what his future career will be like because his “direction” has not yet been firmly defined.

Sharing the same thought, Mr. Nguyen Tat Van, born in 1979 - Secretary of the Youth Union of Thinh Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district added: "The Party Committees of Yen Thanh district are very interested in arranging output for the target group of over-age youth union cadres like me, however, we must also acknowledge the current reality that "we are powerless" because there are no "vacant" positions to transfer to, so I have to... wait".

Comrade Le Minh Phuc - Deputy Head of the Organization Board of Do Luong District Party Committee said: The whole district of Do Luong currently has 16 union officials who are over age, mainly born from 1976 to 1982. At the end of 2016, 2 cases were transferred to other jobs and 4 others are being considered for job placement. The remaining 12 commune union secretaries are all waiting until the end of 2017 or 2018, or even 2020, to hope for suitable positions to be assigned to them. Similarly, Comrade Pham Thi Huyen Trang - Secretary of Yen Thanh District Union said: The district currently has 6 commune union secretaries who are over age and only 1 comrade, Secretary of Vinh Thanh commune union, was transferred to another job in November 2016. The other cases are still waiting.

Difficulties and solutions

Through the actual review and through the working sessions between the Standing Committee of the District Party Committee and the District Youth Union, comrade Le Minh Phuc - Deputy Head of the Organization Board of the Do Luong District Party Committee said that there are two basic reasons leading to a number of over-age union cadres not being assigned work in a timely manner according to regulations, that is, there is no position to arrange or the union cadres do not meet the conditions for job transfer, mainly due to the degree requirements, a few are due to the capacity not meeting the requirements.

Comrade Le Minh Phuc also said that the Standing Committee of Do Luong District Party Committee has had many meetings with the grassroots Party Committee to find solutions to remove the "output" for the leaders of the Youth Union, creating opportunities for the young generation to rise up. Based on the characteristics and specific situation of each locality and individual, the most reasonable solution will be proposed.

At the end of December 2016, the Standing Committee of Do Luong District Party Committee had a meeting with the District Youth Union on personnel work, focusing on job arrangements for commune Youth Union secretaries who are over the age limit for Youth Union activities. Accordingly, a number of plans have been proposed, with the plan to transfer jobs to 4 cadres who are Youth Union secretaries of Thai Son, Giang Son Dong, Hong Son and Minh Son communes. Some others have positions but must wait until 2018 - 2020 when there are retired Party Committee cadres or unions such as in Tay Son, Thinh Son, Luu Son, Giang Son Tay communes...

Ky Son district youth union officials give gifts to children in difficult circumstances. Photo: Archive

Through research, it is known that the streamlining of the position of commune vice chairperson according to the Law on Organization of Local Government also makes the work of arranging output for union cadres difficult. Because the work arrangement for commune vice chairpersons after the streamlining has "filled" the positions that can be arranged for union cadres over the age in the locality.

Comrade Bui Thanh Bao - Secretary of Tan Ky District Party Committee said: “Tan Ky District has 13 people who are vice chairmen of the People's Committee of the commune who have been transferred to new jobs according to the policy of streamlining the payroll. In addition, for Tan Ky District, after the Party Congress in 2015, some commune party secretaries, although not yet of retirement age, were not elected, so they had to be transferred to commune-level civil servants. This is also the cause of difficulties, if not to say blockages, in removing the "output" for union cadres when it is time to transfer jobs or mature the union. Therefore, Tan Ky currently has 5 commune union secretaries waiting to be transferred to new jobs, all of whom were born in 1981”.

Talking about solutions for arranging jobs for over-age union cadres, comrade Phan Huy Hai - Head of the Organization Board of Yen Thanh District Party Committee said: "In the near future, the Standing Committee of the District Party Committee will have a meeting with the Standing Committee of the District Youth Union and communes with union secretaries who need to be transferred. Accordingly, if the commune still has civil servant positions, the district will request the commune not to develop a new recruitment plan to make a process to propose priority for union cadres if they meet the prescribed factors. Another direction is to transfer to other positions or arrange them as non-professional staff...".

In fact, many key cadres of the Party Committees of communes and districts have grown up from grassroots Youth Union cadres. Therefore, solving the "output" problem for over-aged Youth Union cadres is not only a solution to rejuvenate the Youth Union cadre team but also a channel to promote the source of cadres for Party Committees at all levels. Therefore, in addition to focusing on quality in the recruitment stage, during the working process, each Youth Union cadre also needs to strive to self-study, improve professional expertise and assert himself/herself during the working process to be able to respond well to any position when mobilized or rotated.

Hoai Thu