Emulation must create real productivity, real benefits

Lao Dong Newspaper had an exchange with Dr. Luong Trong Thanh - Member of the Standing Committee of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, Chairman of the Thanh Hoa Provincial Labor Federation on this issue.

Thanh Hoa is setting very high growth requirements. In such a large goal, how can the Trade Union organization determine how it can contribute, sir?

- Implementing the Resolution of the 20th Thanh Hoa Provincial Party Congress, term 2025 - 2030 and responding to the emulation movement "Promoting double-digit growth, successfully implementing socio-economic development tasks according to the Resolution of the 20th Provincial Party Congress, term 2025 - 2030" launched by the Provincial People's Committee, we determine that the contribution of the Trade Union organization must start from the labor force itself.

A very important resource of businesses as well as the province is the intelligence, skills, responsibility and creativity of the worker team. Therefore, the movement "Good labor, high productivity, good income" launched by the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor is concretized by Thanh Hoa Trade Union according to each business, each production line, and each job position.

We do not aim solely to create a vibrant movement. The measure must be how well workers improve their skills, how productivity increases, whether product quality is better, how much labor safety is ensured and whether workers' incomes are improved or not.

But emulation in businesses has long been perceived as quite formal. How can employees really want to participate, and businesses see the benefits to accompany?

- This is the issue we are very concerned about. Thanh Hoa has a large workforce, working in many industries, types of enterprises and very different production conditions. If applying a common model to all enterprises or organizing emulation separately from production tasks, it is very difficult to attract workers, and at the same time, enterprises also find it difficult to see effectiveness.

Therefore, the Provincial Labor Federation orients grassroots trade unions to proactively coordinate with employers to choose appropriate emulation content. To date, 123 grassroots trade unions have coordinated with businesses to organize excellent worker contests, attracting more than 7,000 union members and workers to participate.

The important thing is that the contests are not outside of production activities but are brought directly to the workplace, so businesses see the effectiveness and workers also see themselves as the subjects of the movement.

The excellent skills contest at Annora Vietnam Shoe Co., Ltd. is an example. On September 10, 2026, the Executive Committee of the Company's Trade Union organized a contest with 8 teams from 8 production lines, with the participation of nearly 2,000 workers at Factory 2.

A noteworthy point is that the Company's Trade Union did not select a few highly skilled workers as representatives for the competition. All workers in each line participated and the products participating in the competition were the results of the entire line.

This is very consistent with the characteristics of today's industrial production. A pair of shoes or a complete product is not the result of one person alone. It depends on a series of linked stages.

Skilled people must know how to guide and support colleagues. People in each stage must complete their work well. The entire line is responsible for the final product.

Thus, the contest not only measures the ingenuity of a few individuals but also evaluates the production organization capacity, labor discipline and coordination ability of the whole collective.

As a result, the first prize-winning line created quality-assured products, with productivity reaching over 150% of the regular quota assigned, and the defect rate was over 3% lower than the average rate in regular production.

Those are measurable figures. It shows that emulation, if organized correctly, will not only create a lively atmosphere but also directly contribute to improving productivity, improving product quality, reducing defects, saving raw materials and improving production efficiency for businesses.

There is a problem that workers are particularly concerned about: If they increase productivity for the business, how will their benefits increase? If the final achievement only stops at certificates of merit, will the movement be sustainable?

- Our point of view is that emulation achievements must be linked to the practical rights of workers. At Annora Vietnam Shoe Co., Ltd., the Company's Trade Union Executive Committee awarded 1 First Prize worth 5 million VND, 1 Second Prize worth 3 million VND, 1 Third Prize worth 2 million VND and 5 Consolation Prizes, each prize worth 1 million VND.

Not stopping at the prize money of the contest. The results of participating in the contest and the results of performing work in the month are considered by the enterprise as a basis for evaluating and ranking employees. Workers of type A are rewarded 350,000 VND, type B 250,000 VND, type C 200,000 VND.

Monthly ranking results continue to be accumulated, monitored and become one of the bases for businesses to consider salary grade increases.

I think this is a way of doing things that is in line with the very legitimate desire of workers: to participate, to be publicly evaluated, to have their abilities recognized correctly and to benefit from their own labor results.

If emulation achievements are associated with bonuses, salary raises and career development opportunities, workers will have the motivation to self-study, self-train their skills and be more responsible for their work.

Conversely, if you just take the exam and award certificates of merit and everything ends there, it is very difficult to maintain the long-term vitality of the movement.

Therefore, accompanying businesses should absolutely not be simply understood as mobilizing workers to work more. What needs to be aim for is to work better, more scientifically and more efficiently.

Trade unions must work with businesses to improve workers' skills, organize reasonable labor, reduce defects, ensure safety, save materials, and encourage initiatives and innovation.

Protecting workers is not only implemented when disputes occur. In my opinion, more fundamental and sustainable protection is to help workers have stable jobs, have vocational skills, be able to adapt to new technologies, work in a safe environment and especially benefit worthily from the values they create.

This is the meeting point between three interests: the rights of workers, the development of businesses and the growth goals of the locality.

Thank you very much, sir!

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