What future for district-contracted school employees?

Life is hard

For more than 20 years, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Sen (49 years old) has worked as a school clerk, but her main income to support her family comes from... selling fish.

Before working at Quynh Lam B Primary School for nearly a year, Ms. Sen had more than 20 years of experience as a clerk at Tien Thuy Secondary School. Ms. Sen said that she started working as a clerk at the school in 1998. On January 1, 2000, she was signed a labor contract by Quynh Luu district, with a salary coefficient of 1.4.

Ms. Sen's salary remained the same for more than 22 years, until Quynh Luu district decided to adjust and raise it slightly in August 2022. Living in Cau Giat town, Ms. Sen has to travel 13km every day to get to school.

“VBecause my husband worked far away, I had to come home to my children at noon and then go to school in the afternoon. I had to travel more than 50km every day. Meanwhile, in the first years, I didn't have a motorbike, so I had to ride a bicycle. It was hard work, and the salary was low, but I still tried, hoping that one day I would become a permanent employee and get a raise," Ms. Sen sadly said.

However, that small hope is getting more and more distant.

To ease the hardship, Ms. Sen borrowed money to buy a motorbike. But her salary was too low, sometimes not even enough to buy gas. To have money to cover her living expenses and help her pursue her dream of becoming a civil servant, Ms. Sen decided to sell fish.

“Near Tien Thuy Secondary School there is a fishing port. Because my salary was so low, the teachers at the school showed me how to sell fish in town to increase my income, because it was convenient to go to work,” Ms. Sen said.

Since then, after every school day, Ms. Sen would go to the fishing port to buy some seafood, then go to Cau Giat town to sell. After 20 years of riding a motorbike long distances every day, one of her ears was affected and she had to use a hearing aid to hear.

“Many people have asked me how I could stay with such a low salary for so long. I was really discouraged at times. In the first years, I hoped to be on the payroll and get a raise based on my time of service. But in the following years, I felt regretful and couldn’t bear to quit, because after all, I had worked and paid insurance for decades,” Ms. Sen said.

Ms. Sen and 14 contract clerical and accounting staff at schools in Quynh Luu district currently receive 3.6 million VND per month, after the district adjusted and raised their salaries according to the regional minimum wage in August 2022. This is the first time these 15 people have received a salary increase since signing the contract with the district. Previously, regardless of their qualifications or seniority, they all had to receive a salary with a coefficient of 1.4. That means they only received a little over 2.1 million VND per month. After deducting expenses such as insurance, some people only received about 1.5 million VND per month.

Ms. Tinh has been a contract employee at the school for 13 years with a meager salary. Photo: Tien Hung

In the same situation as Ms. Sen is Ms. Tang Thi Tinh (40 years old), a clerical staff at Son Hai Primary School. Ms. Tinh was contracted by Quynh Luu district to work as a clerical staff at this school since 2009, going to work 7km from her home every day.

“Before the recent salary increase, I only received about 1.6 million VND per month. If there were a few weddings in a month, my salary would be gone,” said Ms. Tinh, adding that because her salary was too low and her future was uncertain, her husband asked her to quit her job many times. However, because she loved her current job and was promised more, she kept hoping year after year.

Also signing a contract with Quynh Luu district in 2009 with Ms. Tinh was Ms. Dao Thi Thuy (40 years old), a clerical staff of Quynh Minh Primary School. Ms. Thuy said that at that time she had a university degree in Accounting, but was assigned to the school to work as a clerk. When the district had a recruitment target for a clerical position, Ms. Thuy applied but was rejected, on the grounds that her university degree was in Accounting, not in clerical work.

“In order to be on the payroll, I took advantage of the time to go to school and get a diploma in clerical work. However, when I was recruited the next time, I was not accepted because they said I had to wait another 3 years after receiving the diploma. I don’t understand it either. If we are not on the payroll, at least we should get regular salary increases,” said Ms. Thuy.

Waiting for the establishment

Of these 15 contract employees, 7 are accountants. In October 2022, Quynh Luu district organized recruitment for 3 accounting positions at schools. However, 7 senior contract employees were not given priority for recruitment. Instead, 3 new accounting positions were recruited. This made the contract employees upset, and they filed a petition to the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district for consideration.

“When signing the contract, they promised this and that. But when there were recruitment targets, they did not prioritize us. After all, we had work experience, full qualifications, and all of us had more than 10 years of seniority,” said an accountant who asked to remain anonymous.

Speaking to Nghe An Newspaper reporters, Mr. Nguyen Huu Bo - Head of the Internal Affairs Department of Quynh Luu District said that in addition to these 15 cases, there are 9 other teachers in the district who also signed similar contracts with the district. All of these contracts were signed by Quynh Luu District between 2000 and 2014.

“However, the province later requested a review and concluded that these contracts were signed by Quynh Luu district without authority and not in accordance with the law. The province requested Quynh Luu district to liquidate them. But the district did not have the conditions to liquidate them,” said Mr. Bo.

According to Mr. Bo, recently, Quynh Luu district organized recruitment for 3 accounting positions. 4 out of 7 accounting contract employees met the qualifications to apply. Because the standard is to have a university degree in Accounting or Banking and Finance, the remaining people were not eligible to apply.

“During the recruitment process, 4 contract employees failed the interview. The remaining 3 people who passed were all fresh graduates,” said the Minister, affirming that the recruitment process was “in accordance with procedures, open, transparent, and without any negative aspects.”

Speaking to Nghe An Newspaper reporter, Mr. Nguyen Huu Bo said that the recruitment standard for the accounting position is to have a university degree. However, according to the representative of the Organization and Personnel Department (Department of Education and Training), according to regulations, only a college degree is required to meet the standard. Photo: My Ha

Accordingly, Quynh Luu district selects candidates by interview. The judges are all district officials.

“Because there is no regulation on bonus points, we cannot give priority to contract employees with seniority. Those who are selected all meet the standards and conditions. With 15 contract employees, we know their contributions despite the low salary, but the district cannot promise anything for their future. In the near future, we may ask for the province's policy to resolve the issue, and at the same time, we will work with each individual to encourage their spirit,” Mr. Bo said, adding that the district's decision to raise the regional minimum wage before organizing the selection is a move to encourage the spirit of contract employees.

Mr. Nguyen Van Thuong - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district said that all 15 of these employees were contracted by the district in the past due to lack of staff, but at that time the documents were not strict.

“Therefore, after reviewing, the province concluded that the district signed the contract without proper authority. In 2017, the province requested to liquidate the contracts without proper authority. However, at that time, there were two reasons. One was that most of the teachers had signed contracts for over 10 years, so liquidating them would be a sin, and the district could not bear it. In addition, because the schools' needs were also necessary, liquidation was not possible. Let them wait for the opportunity to enter the payroll. Recently, there were 3 accounting positions, and they were all in the same category as other independent candidates, not in the priority category, so points could not be added,” said Mr. Thuong.

Meanwhile, discussing this issue, a representative of the Department of Personnel Organization (Department of Education and Training) said that localities need to prioritize recruiting long-term contract employees first, if they meet the prescribed conditions.

“In many localities, specifically in Vinh City recently, when there are staffing quotas, they do not recruit new workers but only prioritize selecting from labor contracts that have worked for a long time in the locality and have made many contributions to the schools,” he said, adding that in terms of standards, Quynh Luu district’s regulation that requires a university degree is wrong, causing many contract employees to lose the opportunity to apply. Because according to regulations, school accountants only need a college degree or higher to meet the standards.