Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs responds to the issue raised by the newspaper

(Baonghean) -Pursuant to Official Dispatch No. 8021/UBND dated November 8, 2013 of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee on inspection and handling of issues raised in the article "Loopholes in labor export management” (published in Nghe An newspaper on October 25, 2013), on December 13, 2013, the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs issued Official Dispatch No. 2186 /LĐTBXH-VLLĐ in response to the issue raised by the newspaper with the following content:

1. About the content: Lost money because of a "ghost" company.

In 2012, after receiving information that some workers from Quynh Luu district came to the house of Ms. Nguyen Thi Duc, residing at 58 Tran Quang Dieu Street, Truong Thi Ward, Vinh City, to demand the money they had paid to go work in Taiwan, the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs sent officers to directly inspect and grasp the situation.

With the function of state management of labor export activities in the province, the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs affirmed that Ms. Nguyen Thi Duc was not on the list of officials of the labor export unit and did not introduce Ms. Duc to localities for consulting and selecting workers to work abroad. This is a violation of the law on labor export by Ms. Nguyen Thi Duc. Currently, the investigation police agency of Nghe An province is handling the case and investigating Ms. Nguyen Thi Duc's actions to handle them according to the provisions of law.

2. Regarding content: Lack of strict management of labor export activities.

In recent times, labor export in the province has always received attention from Party committees and authorities at all levels, from central and local information and press agencies. In particular, Nghe An Newspaper, Nghe An Radio and Television Station and more than 40 units and enterprises have been granted labor export licenses by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, so they have achieved positive results. On average, more than 10,000 provincial workers have been sent to work abroad for a limited period of time each year; Foreign currency revenue sent back to the country through banks has reached 100 million USD/year; contributing to the implementation of the program of job creation and sustainable poverty reduction.

Regarding the state management of labor export activities in the province, according to its functions and tasks, the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs shall monitor and manage when units and enterprises with labor export functions are granted a license by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs to operate services of sending workers to work abroad and the Department of Overseas Labor Management shall appraise labor supply contracts with partners who need to recruit labor export in the province. On that basis, inspections shall be conducted when units have complete documents and procedures before introducing them to districts, cities and towns to recruit workers.

In addition to the direct management and monitoring functions, the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs has regularly coordinated with functional agencies and People's Committees of districts, cities and towns to inspect the activities of units in the area to detect and handle violations in order to rectify the labor export work to become more and more orderly.

After Nghe An Newspaper published the above article, the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs established an interdisciplinary inspection team between the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs and the Provincial Police to inspect a number of job placement and labor export units in the area. The inspection results showed that: Job placement and labor export units registered to operate through the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs strictly implemented the regulations on job placement and labor export activities, contributing to the results of job placement and labor export in the province.

However, the violations as mentioned by Nghe An Newspaper do exist and focus on the following activities:

- Some organizations and individuals take advantage of the Business Registration Certificate issued by the Department of Planning and Investment, without being granted a business license by the competent authority, but still operate labor export activities.

- Some intermediaries and brokers do not have the function of introducing jobs and exporting labor but still deliberately entice and collect illegal money from workers who want to work abroad, causing damage to the workers.

- In recent times, some organizations and individuals have consulted and recruited workers to work in countries such as Japan, Australia, England, Korea, etc. through the form of studying abroad, internships, etc. This is a disguised act of labor export activities. However, state management of the field of studying abroad is under the authority of the Ministry of Education and Training.

The Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs reported to the Provincial People's Committee and Nghe An Newspaper to take timely corrective measures.

Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs