Ensuring smooth union activities, no obstacles

On September 12, the working delegation of the Standing Committee of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor led by Member of the Party Central Committee, Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, President of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor Nguyen Dinh Khang had a working session with the Standing Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City Labor Federation.

Also attending the meeting were Permanent Vice President of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor Thai Thu Xuong, Vice Presidents of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor: Huynh Thanh Xuan, Phan Van Anh, Nguyen Xuan Hung and representatives of the Trade Union Working Committee, Labor Relations Committee of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor.

On the Ho Chi Minh City side, there were Ms. Truong Thi Bich Hanh - Vice Chairwoman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, representatives of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee's departments, representatives of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee's Party Committee and the Standing Committee of the City Labor Federation.

Speaking at the opening of the meeting, President of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor Nguyen Dinh Khang said that since implementing the two-level government model, trade union activities in Ho Chi Minh City have encountered some difficulties and problems. The Vietnam General Confederation of Labor sent a working delegation led by Vice President of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor Phan Van Anh to work, taking note of the reflections from the Ho Chi Minh City General Confederation of Labor.

The activities of the Ho Chi Minh City Trade Union always have many new and creative models that are replicated in trade union activities nationwide. At today's working session, the Standing Committee of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor will listen and have conclusions so that the activities of the Ho Chi Minh City Trade Union organization will be guaranteed to be smooth, without obstacles, and properly perform the role, functions, and tasks of the trade union organization in representing and protecting the legitimate and legal rights and interests and taking good care of union members and workers in Ho Chi Minh City", President of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor Nguyen Dinh Khang emphasized.

Reporting at the conference, Mr. Phung Thai Quang - Vice President of the Ho Chi Minh City Labor Federation - said that the Ho Chi Minh City Labor Federation is managing nearly 23,500 grassroots unions with approximately 2.5 million union members.

The Ho Chi Minh City Labor Federation has established 141/168 trade unions in wards, communes and special zones, ensuring full compliance with the two criteria for establishing trade union organizations according to current regulations and 9 working groups for local management. At the same time, issue temporary regulations on the duties and powers of local management working groups to ensure that the direction and guidance of grassroots trade union activities throughout the area is not interrupted in the process of restructuring the apparatus.

The Ho Chi Minh City Labor Federation is managing a large number of grassroots unions and union members, so the workload and work pressure are large. Grassroots union officials are mainly part-time, lacking skills and experience in organizing union activities, especially in small and medium-sized enterprises.

Up to 80% of commune-level union officials are new and have not yet experienced practical union activities, so access to union activities and regulations is still limited. The local Party Committee assigns non-professional workers at the commune level to concurrently hold trade union tasks, but it is not yet clear whether they will be recognized as full-time trade union officials or not, leading to confusion in the implementation of related tasks and policies.

The Ho Chi Minh City Labor Federation also proposed a number of recommendations to the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor.

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