Efforts to improve the quality of collective labor agreements

Difficulties and opportunities

Collective labor agreements (CLAs) are considered a “sub-law” agreed upon and negotiated between employers and employees, including many provisions beneficial to employees set forth in the CLAs. However, because the CLAs are voluntary and have no sanctions, this becomes a difficult issue for all union officials. In the complicated epidemic situation affecting production and business, this difficult issue becomes even more difficult.

Workers at an FDI enterprise in Nghe An. Photo: DT

“At the Southeast Economic Zone Trade Union, out of 10 units that could not establish collective labor negotiations, 8 units had difficulties in production and business, 2 units said that their policies for workers were already so good that they did not need to add a collective labor agreement. After the pandemic, the number of units that had agreements but they had expired were hesitant to sign new ones because they were facing difficulties in business and production,” said Ms. Tran Thi Nguyet - Vice President of the Southeast Economic Zone Trade Union.

The same situation is also faced in other district and sector unions. Mr. Nguyen Van Thuc - Chairman of the Industry and Trade Union said: “In many units of the tourism service sector, the number of employees going to work every day can be counted on the fingers, organizing conferences is difficult, negotiating or signing a collective labor agreement is even more impossible. In addition, in many units, the negotiation method and the quality of the agreement are still formal, many units copy the content of the Labor Law to include in the agreement. The reason for this is partly because business owners do not fully realize the importance, necessity and effectiveness of the collective labor agreement”.

The Southeast Economic Zone Trade Union monitors the implementation of labor laws at FDI enterprises. Photo: Hoang Yen

In addition to objective reasons, we cannot ignore subjective reasons from the union officials. Specifically, many grassroots union officials have not been proactive and have not boldly proposed that employers negotiate and sign collective labor agreements. “This is also completely understandable, grassroots union officials are union members but receive salaries from business owners, they cannot confidently stand up to propose contents that seem disadvantageous to employers. Moreover, the negotiation skills of most grassroots officials are also very limited, requiring union officials at higher levels to really stick together and accompany them,” said Mr. Nguyen Tat Cuong - Vice Chairman of the Do Luong District Labor Federation.

In addition to the above difficulties, many union officials believe that the limitation in coordination with state management agencies in inspecting and guiding enterprises in negotiating and signing collective labor agreements and the lack of deterrent sanctions are also reasons leading to unsatisfactory results in collective labor agreements.

Collective labor agreements are directly related to workers' rights, so they play an important role in stabilizing labor relations and reducing strikes in enterprises. Photo: DT

Although it is a “difficult problem”, Nghe An Trade Union determined that the Collective Labor Agreement is an extremely important content in labor relations. Ms. Hoang Thi Thu Huong - Head of the Department of Legal Policy - Labor Relations, Provincial Labor Federation said: “The recent strike in Dien Chau is the clearest proof of the importance of the Collective Labor Agreement. One of the reasons whyWorkerThe reason why businesses are determined not to make concessions is because they compare the benefits of their company with other companies - these are built into the agreement. The nature of the collective labor agreement is voluntary, it can only be encouraged, mobilized and cannot be forced with deterrent sanctions. The above factor makes this content a "battlefield" for union officials to demonstrate their role, function and capacity. Moreover, in the context of businesses needing to attract workers, including content that is beneficial to workers in the collective labor agreement will have a higher chance of success. Especially the content related to improving the quality of shift meals".

Many creative ways

From the orientation of the Provincial Federation of Labor, Nghe An currently has 454/533 enterprises with collective labor agreements. Of which, state-owned enterprises are 32/32 units, FDI enterprises are 28/35 units and non-state-owned enterprises are 394/466 units.

The Provincial Federation of Labor held a conference to evaluate the results of the 2021 collective labor agreement. Photo: DT

In terms of quality, some grassroots trade unions have invested time in directing and helping grassroots trade unions negotiate amendments and supplements many times before signing, thereby improving the quality of the 2021 Collective Labor Agreements. Some units have quite good quality Collective Labor Agreements. Typically, the Collective Labor Agreement of Ha Tien Investment and Development Joint Stock Company (Dien Chau) has favorable terms such as a minimum 3-month probationary salary of 4.5 million VND/month, and a minimum post-probationary salary of 5.5 million VND/month. The collective labor agreement of Dien Ky Commune Credit Fund (Dien Chau) has provisions that are beneficial to employees such as 100% support for tuition, gasoline, and accommodation costs for employees participating in professional development courses, 5 days off for marriage, 3 days off for children's marriage, 7 days off for parents, children, and spouses who die, 1/2 day off for death anniversary with pay, clothing allowance of 5 million VND/year, mid-shift meals of 130,000 VND/person/day. The collective labor agreement of Nhan Do Company Limited (Quy Hop) has provisions such as more days off for personal reasons than prescribed by law, 13th month salary bonus, diligence bonus, Tet bonus, and innovation bonus from 2-10 million VND/year, clothing allowance of 5 million VND/year, good welfare regimes, separate regimes for female employees, organizing tours once a year... The collective labor agreement of Hoa Sen Nghe An One Member Co., Ltd. (Dong Nam Economic Zone)There is a provision to buy 24/24 accident insurance for employees, support for meal allowance of 25,000 VND/day, additional support of 2,000,000 VND/month for female employees on maternity leave for 6 months...

“To encourage and motivate negotiation work, for units and trade union organizations, there is a mechanism to provide financial support for quality agreements, thereby supporting and rewarding grassroots cadres and cadres at higher levels. In addition, the Provincial Federation of Labor will also organize rewards in stages.”

Ms. Hoang Thi Thu Huong - Head of Legal Policy - Labor Relations Department - Provincial Labor Federation

To achieve the above results, it is indispensable to have the companionship, participation, responsibility and creativity of the grassroots trade unions. Sharing the experience of the Southeast Economic Zone Trade Union, Ms. Tran Thi Nguyet said: “We make a list and assign union officials to follow the grassroots, closely updating the effective time of the Agreements. 2 months before the expiration date, we send a document reminding new signings, making a list of the contents of the agreements of the units and sending it to all grassroots trade unions. This implicitly creates competition between units, improving the quality of the agreements toretain workersIn addition, the close coordination between the union and the Southeast Economic Zone Management Board also created more favorable conditions for us, helping to include the content of the agreement right from the first days of establishing the grassroots union."

The Chairman of the Provincial Federation of Labor visited and grasped the situation of workers at the enterprise. Photo: DVCC

Similarly, to become one of the top units in the province in terms of quantity and quality of collective labor agreements, Dien Chau District Labor Federation has regularly organized training courses to improve the capacity of building, negotiating and signing collective labor agreements for specialized union officials, key union officials at the grassroots level in enterprises, closely following the grassroots level to support and advise when necessary, assigning targets for signing new or amending collective labor agreements to units, coordinating with local authorities to manage and resolve labor-related issues...

“To propose the construction, supplement and amendment of the contents of the collective labor agreements, union officials need to have a clear understanding of the business and production situation of the enterprise. In most cases, the grassroots union needs the support and advice of the higher-level union, so in addition to training courses on negotiation skills, it is also necessary to hold hands and guide the grassroots - Mr. Nguyen Tat Cuong - Vice Chairman of the Do Luong District Labor Federation shared.