Focus on caring for and motivating workers

Many improvements

The activities of Nghe An Trade Union in the first 6 months of the year have realized the theme "Caring for jobs and lives of workers, striving to fulfill the highest goals and tasks of the Resolution of the 12th Congress of Vietnam Trade Union, Resolution of the 18th Congress of Nghe An Provincial Trade Union, term 2018 - 2023, goals, targets and tasks of the Resolution of the Trade Union Congresses at all levels".

Workers attend a dialogue with the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee during Workers' Month 2022. Photo: Diep Thanh

Entering the first months of 2022, the Covid-19 epidemic broke out strongly in Nghe An, greatly affecting the lives and jobs of workers. However, in recent months, when the epidemic was basically controlled, all economic and social activities returned to a new normal state with many improvements in most fields, activities from the grassroots to the provincial level were deployed promptly and effectively. Among the socio-economic milestones of the province, it is impossible not to mention 2 social housing projects for workers and laborers working in Nam Cam Industrial Park with an investment scale of 6,457 apartments. In addition, the investment environment has been strongly improved, creating jobs for many workers, the fields of education, health care and social security have been ensured, and people's lives have been significantly improved...

In the first 5 months of the year, production and business activities of enterprises in the province have initially stabilized, with the average income of employees in enterprises reaching 5 - 5.7 million VND/person/month. However, due to the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, prices of some input goods have increased, especially gasoline, iron and steel prices... and local labor shortages have led to delays in construction investment projects, increased total investment, affected investment efficiency of projects and especially affected the progress of public investment disbursement... directly affecting the lives of workers and trade union activities.

Chairman of the Provincial Labor Federation - Mr. Kha Van Tam presented gifts to workers in difficult circumstances at the boarding house. Photo: DVCC

Faced with that reality, through a survey by the trade union organization, the majority of union members and workers want to stabilize the prices of gasoline, essential consumer goods, and increase the minimum wage to ensure the lives of workers.

Motivate workers

Understanding the thoughts and aspirations of union members and workers, comrade Nguyen Chi Cong - Vice Chairman of the Provincial Federation of Labor said: "Accompanying businesses and workers, Nghe An Trade Unions at all levels have had many solutions and innovations to improve the quality and efficiency of operations, contributing to caring for and protecting the rights and interests of workers."

Organizing free motorcycle oil changes for workers during Workers' Month 2021. Photo: Diep Thanh

One of the important functions of the trade union organization is to participate in policy making and protect the rights of workers. Accordingly, trade unions at all levels periodically organize legal days, through which to orient propaganda work, provide new documents and regulations related to workers and civil servants. Promoting the role and responsibility of the organization, the Provincial Labor Federation directly participated in giving opinions and organizing conferences to give opinions on 4 draft documents related to the rights and interests of workers. Specifically, helping to resolve problems in resolving the regime for workers infected with F0, guiding the working and quarantine regimes for workers infected with F1 at enterprises, guiding the disinfection spraying at enterprises... The event of organizing a livestream on post-Covid-19 care and social insurance regime for workers who have lost their jobs due to Covid-19 infection on television organized by Nghe An Trade Union received the attention and reception of many union members and workers.

To prevent and limit strikes and collective work stoppages, dialogue activities at the grassroots level have been promoted. In particular, the meeting and dialogue between the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee and workers in 2022 has been highly appreciated by all levels and sectors.

The delegation of the Provincial Federation of Labor worked with the leaders of VietGlory Company Limited to resolve the strike situation. Photo: Diep Thanh

In addition, through a survey of the actual life of workers, the Provincial Labor Federation has made recommendations and proposals to departments, branches, and National Assembly delegations on increasing regional minimum wages and adjusting regions in some districts, towns, and cities in Nghe An province. As a result, when Decree No. 38/2022/ND-CP was issued, some districts of Nghe An were upgraded from region 4 to region 3, from region 3 to region 2, many workers in Nghe An had their salaries increased by nearly 700,000 VND/month.

The work of negotiating, signing and implementing collective labor agreements and dialogue at enterprises has been resolutely directed by Nghe An Trade Union at all levels, such as organizing conferences to discuss solutions to improve the quantity and quality of collective labor agreements, assigning targets for signing new ones and re-signing collective labor agreements for each unit. Up to now, more than 85% of enterprises with trade union organizations have collective labor agreements, in which some agreements have many beneficial contents on the issue of salary, bonus, fuel money, housing, attendance money, support for raising young children, health check-ups, and shift meals for employees. Typically, some enterprises in Nghia Dan district have a shift meal regime for employees from 35,000 - 37,000 VND/meal. In many enterprises, the trade union has also been active in building salary scales, tables, and labor regulations; every year, the trade union coordinates to organize conferences for employees, and dialogue reaches nearly 70%.

Dialogue program between the Southeast Economic Zone Management Board and workers. Photo: Diep Thanh

Trade union legal consultancy activities continued to be promoted, with 102 legal consultancy sessions. Of which, 40 legal consultancy sessions were conducted on Nghe An Newspaper, 5 sessions on Trade Union TV, 57 sessions via phone and directly at the office... In addition, Trade Unions at all levels organized mobile legal consultancy and dissemination on the 2019 Labor Code, the 2014 Social Insurance Law, the Law on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Cadres, Civil Servants and the Law on Public Employees for hundreds of workers.

Since the beginning of the year, Nghe An Trade Unions at all levels have participated in directing the successful resolution of 5 strikes. Of which, at Vietglory Company Limited in Dien Chau District, the Provincial Labor Federation established a working group to directly negotiate the workers' legitimate demands and received approval from the company. Happy that after the union intervened, the company agreed to increase the current salary by 6%, worker Nguyen Thi Ha, Vietglory Company Limited in Dien Chau District shared: "We thank the union very much, thanks to the union's intervention, we have more income and more money to buy milk for our children."

Preventing chain reactions after strikes The Provincial Labor Federation has organized 3 conferences to deploy solutions to prevent and resolve strikes in the area. Currently, Nghe An Provincial Labor Federation is chairing and coordinating the development of the Project "Strengthening leadership and direction in preventing andstrike resolutionin Nghe An province".

The delegation of the Labor Federation on a trip to exchange experience in handling strikes to develop the Project "Strengthening leadership and direction in preventing and resolving strikes in Nghe An province". Photo: DVCC

The program to visit workers' and laborers' boarding houses has been effectively implemented by trade unions at all levels. After a field survey, the Provincial Labor Federation promptly supported 300,000 VND/person for workers and laborers staying in VSIP industrial park. Many districts and sectors responded to the implementation of visiting and giving gifts to workers renting boarding houses to eachboarding house, rented houseof workers in the area. In addition, activities such as visiting and giving gifts to workers and laborers in difficulty, and supporting the Trade Union Shelter for union members are also regularly implemented.

The trade union's activities to support and practically care for workers' lives have motivated workers to enthusiastically produce, increase income, and at the same time contribute to joining hands with businesses and the government to restore the economy after the pandemic./.