Trade unions innovate women's work, taking the needs of female workers as the center

- Madam, in the face of new requirements of the labor market and workers' lives, how should women's work be innovated to better meet the needs of female union members and workers?

With the female force accounting for about 56% of the total number of trade union members, women's work plays an important role in the activities of the Trade Union organization. In the coming period, the requirement is to comprehensively innovate the work of mobilizing female workers, civil servants, and laborers in the spirit of the Resolution of the 14th Vietnam Trade Union Congress, taking union members and laborers as the center, and grassroots trade unions as the focal area.

To do so, female labor activities must originate from the actual needs of women, not stop at propaganda or organizing movements, but need to focus on performing well the function of representing and protecting legitimate and lawful rights and interests. Trade unions need to proactively grasp the thoughts and aspirations of female workers regarding employment, income, working conditions, maternity benefits and issues related to gender equality.

- So how to turn care activities into specific and practical benefits for female union members, Madam?

Trade unions need to strengthen dialogue and negotiation with employers based on surveying the needs of female union members, thereby incorporating more beneficial policies into collective labor agreements. Contents such as supporting childcare costs, arranging milk pumping and storage rooms, specialized maternity health check-ups, and improving working conditions for female workers need to be concerned in accordance with the conditions of each unit and enterprise.

In addition, caring for female workers must be associated with the family and children of workers. Housing, kindergartens, reproductive health care services and support for workers raising young children are issues that require coordination between Trade Union organizations, the State, local authorities and employers. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen the prevention, supervision and handling of acts of sexual harassment, discrimination, and gender-based violence in the workplace.

- How should the emulation movement "Good at state affairs, good at housework" be innovated to both promote the capacity of female workers and reduce pressure from family responsibility?

The movement needs to continue to be maintained, associated with "Good Labor, Creative Labor" and movements suitable for each industry and profession. However, the content and evaluation criteria need to aim for practical effectiveness, recognizing the capacity, creativity and contributions of female union members at work.

In particular, the implementation of the "good housework" criterion should not create an additional burden for women. Trade unions need to actively propagate and mobilize men to share the responsibility of taking care of children and family work, thereby promoting gender equality from each family. The goal is for female workers to have conditions to develop their careers, improve their quality of life and better develop their abilities.

- For women's work to truly go deeper, according to you, what solutions are needed and what criteria should be used to evaluate the effectiveness?

First of all, it is necessary to consolidate the organization, improve the quality of activities of the mass women's union and the capacity of the team of women's union officials, especially the skills of advising, dialogue, collective negotiation, supervision and policy criticism. Along with that, it is necessary to promote the application of science, technology and digital transformation to improve operational efficiency and promptly grasp feedback from female union members.

An important requirement is to innovate the way of evaluating emulation, shifting from statistics on the number of meetings, conferences, and activities to considering the actual results that union members enjoy, the level of improvement in working conditions and employee satisfaction. The responsibility of the head also needs to be linked to the results of task performance.

The Trade Union organization cannot achieve this goal in a single way but needs the close coordination of the State, local authorities, employers and business associations in perfecting policies, ensuring social security and improving working conditions for female workers.

When rights are guaranteed, difficulties in work and life are shared, female workers, civil servants, and laborers will have more conditions to promote their abilities and contribute to agencies, businesses and society.

Thank you for your sharing!

See the original here