"The leader" of Song Lam Cooperative

(Baonghean) - Celebrating the first Vietnam Cooperative Day (April 11, 2012) and honoring strong cooperatives nationwide in Hanoi, Song Lam Production and Service Cooperative, directed by Mr. Le Thanh Ty, was the only unit in Nghe An province to be awarded the "Cooperation for a prosperous community" gold cup.

Born and raised in the coastal countryside of Nghi Hai (Cua Lo), understanding and attached to the land of sand, sun and wind, Mr. Le Thanh Ty devoted his heart and soul to starting a business right on the land of his birth. Present from the early days of the establishment of Song Lam Production and Service Cooperative (July 1, 1971), witnessing the ups and downs of the development process, and every time the unit was on the brink of bankruptcy, new initiatives and methods of operation flashed in his mind, helping the Cooperative overcome challenges and difficulties.

Mr. Le Thanh Ty is struggling with new projects.

From the early years of its establishment until 1987, operating during the subsidy period, Song Lam Cooperative mainly followed the targets assigned by the State, with the main task of building and repairing ships of all kinds. During that period, the Cooperative had 630 members working enthusiastically all day long... By 1989, the State abolished the subsidy mechanism, the Cooperative faced many difficulties. From then on, the Cooperative had to self-account for its business, find its own sources of capital for production and markets for its products. Stuck and confused, members had no jobs, forcing the Cooperative to lay off a large number of workers. The holding out operation lasted until 1991, when it split into 3 Cooperatives: Song Lam Production and Service Enterprise; Song Lam Boat Enterprise and Song Lam Seafood Processing and Service Enterprise.

In 1991, Mr. Le Thanh Ty officially became the Chairman of Song Lam Production and Service Cooperative, reorganizing the compact apparatus, with only 10 core staff remaining. Mr. Ty struggled day and night to find a job that would bring immediate results for his brothers to have a salary? The first thing was to restore the cinema (previously abandoned) so that film owners could come and show movies to serve the needs of local people. Revenue from ticket sales was divided proportionally between both sides. At the same time, the Cooperative also took movies to show everywhere to increase revenue... From those difficult early days, Mr. Ty and the unit's staff were determined to expand 1-2 more stable jobs each year to create jobs and increase income for members and workers.

Up to now, Song Lam Cooperative has dozens of production and business lines such as: shipbuilding and repair; construction materials production; frozen ice production; construction of industrial, civil, traffic and irrigation works; mechanical production and repair and auto garage... In addition, there are internal credit activities; vocational training and foreign language training; labor export linkage and job introduction; general services. With a total of 148 employees, of which 130 people are fully covered by social insurance. The average income of employees is from 2.8 to 3 million VND/person/month. The total capital used by the Cooperative for production and business up to now is over 22 billion VND.

As a commander in chief, operating diverse production and business activities, many different industries and services, Mr. Le Thanh Ty himself always enhances his role and responsibility, is dynamic, creative, dares to do, dares to take responsibility, based on the actual situation and capabilities of the cooperative to invest in advantageous industries, meeting market needs.

Diversified in business, dynamic in service, in recent years, the service activities of Song Lam Production and Service Cooperative have been pushed to a new level: competing well with other units in the business of gasoline both on land and on boats for fishermen to go fishing. Providing electricity services has also achieved good results, with the investment in 2 new transformer stations, the Cooperative has well served the electricity needs of more than 1,000 households in Nghi Hai ward (accounting for over 50% of the ward's population).

Along with that, meeting the needs of the people and the labor export market, Song Lam Cooperative promoted labor export, in 2008 sent 408 local workers to work abroad, contributing to promoting socio-economic development in the area. Besides, the cooperative's fish sauce processing profession Ngu Hai also has a famous brand throughout the market inside and outside the province. From 2009-2011, the cooperative annually consumed from 800,000 liters to 1 million liters of various types of fish sauce, contributing to a significant increase in revenue for the cooperative.

In recent years, the domestic economy has faced many difficulties and challenges... In that context, the production and business activities of the cooperative cannot avoid difficulties. However, above all, with the extensive experience of a leader who has shared hardships with Song Lam Cooperative for the past 41 years, Mr. Le Thanh Ty knows clearly what to do to continue steering the boat through the storm. Song Lam Cooperative has steadily developed and expanded its production and business, and increasingly affirmed its brand as a strong national cooperative with noble titles that the Party, State, Government, ministries, central branches, and provincial People's Committees have given to a cooperative: in 1985, it was awarded the title of Labor Hero by the State; in 2003, it was awarded the Third-class Labor Medal by the President; in 2009, it continued to be awarded the Second-class Labor Medal and many certificates of merit and emulation flags from the Government, ministries, branches, and the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance...

Workers in the cooperative also admire him for his kindness. At 61 years old, with 41 years of working with the Song Lam Production and Service Cooperative, no matter how difficult the times were, he always struggled to find work and ensure income for workers. In his rare free time, he took the opportunity to visit members' families to learn more about the lives of each worker in the cooperative. Any household that needed to renovate their house, develop their family economy or buy a vehicle would be given a loan of 10-15 million VND (without interest). Some new workers in the Enterprise were also given a loan of the entire capital to buy a motorbike, and only had to pay back the debt after a few years. This policy of his received high consensus in the entire cooperative, encouraging workers to actively produce and contribute their intelligence and strength to the cooperative.

When drinking water, remember its source. He and the workers in the cooperative actively do humanitarian charity work, first of all, supporting Ms. Tran Thi Tuyet - a war invalid, former youth volunteer, party member in the party cell to build a house of gratitude worth 65 million VND, build a house of gratitude for the Heroic Vietnamese Mother worth 60 million VND; give scholarships to poor students who overcome difficulties in the area. In the 3 years from 2009 to 2011 alone, Song Lam Cooperative has supported over 300 million VND for charity activities...

Quynh Lan