Resolution of the 6th Congress of the Vietnam Trade Union

The Congress listened to a report on the situation and tasks of the Executive Committee of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (term V), the speech of Comrade Nguyen Van Linh, General Secretary of the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, and the speech of Chairman of the Council of Ministers Do Muoi. On that basis, the Congress discussed and unanimously approved the Political Report and amended Charter; considering it as a platform of action for the workers', laborers' and trade union organization movements in the coming years.

Congress resolution

1. Commending workers and trade unions nationwide for being diligent, brave, overcoming difficulties to maintain production, continuing to build technical facilities for socialism, always attached to the Party, and being a reliable support for the Party and the State. Commending the team of trade union officials for being dedicated, persistent, mobilizing the masses to emulation in labor, production, and thrift; participating in innovating economic management mechanisms, fighting against negativity; taking care of the lives of workers.

The Congress criticized the negative manifestations, which are not in line with the revolutionary nature, the pioneering and exemplary nature of the working class in a part of workers and laborers; criticized bureaucracy, administration, and the right-wing attitude of the Trade Union in the struggle to protect the legitimate interests of workers and civil servants.

2. The common task of the Trade Union in the coming years is to gather, educate, and make workers understand the situation of the country, enthusiastically take the lead in the renovation process, contributing to changing the socio-economic situation; taking care of life, protecting the democratic rights and legitimate interests of workers; building a strong working class and Trade Union; actively participating in building the Party and building the State. The Congress unanimously agreed that Employment and life - Democracy and social justice are the urgent requirements of workers and laborers, and are the daily concerns of trade union levels.

3. Productivity, quality, efficiency, and improvement of workers' lives must be the goals of all emulation campaigns. The revolutionary action movement in each collective of workers and civil servants needs to focus on the following contents:

a) Thoroughly save material consumption in the production process, based on reasonable norms.

b) Arrange the apparatus neatly, reduce administrative and indirect staff.

c) Applying scientific and technical advances, innovating technological processes to increase labor productivity, improve quality and reduce product costs.

d) Strengthen labor management measures, combat the evils of deceit, sloppiness, theft, and waste of public funds.

e) Pay attention to measures to improve working conditions, especially in heavy, hazardous environments and for female workers.

g) Continue to develop forms of production emulation linkages between grassroots levels, sectors, and localities, promote comprehensive strength, support each other, and effectively implement common goals. Promote international emulation movements with the Soviet Union and S.H. C. N countries, in order to accelerate the construction progress of projects, and effectively implement economic contracts and orders under agreements signed between the parties.

For workers and experts working abroad, the Trade Union needs to mobilize brothers and sisters to work well, actively learn a trade, learn a language, comply with the law, and strengthen solidarity with workers and people of friendly countries.

4. Thoroughly grasp the content of the worker-peasant alliance in the new situation, the Trade Union must propagate and explain to workers and laborers to understand their responsibilities for implementing the food program, closely coordinate with state agencies and the Farmers' Association, mobilize all capabilities of industries and science and technology to promote agricultural production. Mobilize workers and civil servants to implement production plans, supply energy, fuel, tools, fertilizers... for agriculture; develop processing industries, produce many good quality consumer goods suitable to the requirements and tastes of farmers. Correctly implement policies and economic contracts, overcome bureaucracy, causing trouble in exchange and trading with farmers.

Trade unions at state-owned farms and forestry farms mobilize workers and employees to promote production, implement economic accounting, and help local farmers apply technical advances.

5. In the context of many economic sectors, the Trade Union is responsible for propagating and encouraging workers and laborers in the non-state economic sector to properly implement the economic development policies of the Party and the State, enthusiastically work and produce, and promote democratic rights in income management and distribution.

The Executive Committee of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, together with State agencies, should soon study and promulgate policies and regimes on labor, wages, labor protection, social insurance, employer-worker relations... in this area.

6. Caring for the lives and protecting the legitimate interests of workers is an important content to build the working class, promote the collective ownership of workers and laborers; is a basic function and urgent task of the Trade Union today.

a) In the coming years, the Trade Union must work with state agencies to mobilize trade union members to rearrange production, reorganize labor, expand auxiliary production, organize services, and process to create jobs and increase income for workers and employees. For the number of odd jobs, the Trade Union must work with the government to carefully consider each case to have appropriate policy measures. Grassroots trade unions in districts, towns, and townships help unemployed people find jobs; establish production and service facilities, and open vocational training classes to help workers and their children have jobs and have additional income.

Trade unions need to participate with management agencies in selecting people to work abroad for labor cooperation; protect their legitimate interests during their time working abroad and participate in arranging jobs for those who have expired and returned home.

b) Proposing to the State to soon study fundamental reform of salary policies in accordance with the spirit of the 6th Party Congress Resolution. Applying measures to ensure actual salaries equal to September 1985 levels. Ending the situation of salary debt and slow sale of rice to civil servants and public employees.

At production and business establishments, the Trade Union mobilizes workers to implement economic and technical norms, strive to increase labor productivity to increase income, and at the same time participate with management agencies and the Enterprise Council to develop reasonable salary unit prices, methods of distributing enterprise funds, and supervise the implementation of salary and bonus regulations.

In administrative and non-business agencies, the Trade Union mobilizes officials to reduce administrative staff, implement the policy of locking salary funds, and concurrently perform tasks to promote labor capacity and increase income.

a) Proposing to the State to soon issue new housing policies. Trade unions at all levels, especially grassroots trade unions, must participate with management agencies to have plans to build, repair, and renovate houses, develop "workers' villages" in places with conditions; participate in distributing housing for workers and civil servants, ensuring fairness, rationality, compliance with policies, and combating negative manifestations in housing distribution.

b) Simultaneously with salary reform, the Trade Union coordinates with the State to research and improve social policies for workers such as: policies for long-term workers in border areas, islands, remote mountainous areas, supplementing policies for retirees, people with occupational diseases, and female workers. Proposing a regime of work stoppage and waiting allowances for redundant workers, social insurance policies for workers in non-state economic sectors...

Social insurance policies directly managed by the Trade Union need to be improved in the direction of expanding the right to self-responsibility of the establishment. Transfer the system of guesthouses managed by the Trade Union to account for revenue and expenditure.

Grassroots trade unions, district, and town trade unions must regularly help and create conditions for retirees to participate in activities, entertainment, rest, sightseeing, and tourism; attract people who are still capable of activities, participating in social work, and doing family economy.

Trade unions at all levels need to pay attention to the needs and private rights of women while resolving the interests of workers such as: participating with the government in arranging and using women's labor reasonably; helping women progress in their careers; allocating a part of the welfare and collective funds for the campaign to have planned children, building and consolidating nurseries, kindergartens, small-scale cooperatives, and service stalls in factories and collective areas... to reduce the family burden for women.

7. Clarify the powers and strengthen the activities of the Inspection Boards of workers, agencies; inspection teams of workers in districts, towns, and cities; strengthen the legal work of the Trade Union to make workers understand the law, live and work according to the law.

Research and coordinate with State agencies to promptly resolve complaints and denunciations from workers and laborers.

Strongly promote the role and function of trade union press in detecting and praising new factors; fighting against negative phenomena within workers and civil servants, in the Trade Union organization and outside society, protecting democratic rights and legitimate interests of workers.

8. It is necessary to innovate organizational and personnel work, innovate operating methods in the direction of: expanding the subjects and scope of Trade Union activities; promoting the autonomy of grassroots trade unions, building strong grassroots trade unions; rectifying and clarifying functions and tasks, streamlining the trade union apparatus at all levels on the basis of building a team of enthusiastic and capable trade union officials to gather the masses to participate in economic management and state management; overcoming administrative bureaucracy, making trade union activities truly the activities of a large number of workers and laborers, demonstrating the independence of the Trade Union organization.

Strengthen theoretical research and practical summarization to contribute to clarifying issues about the working class, about the role and function of the Trade Union in the early stages of the transition period, in the impact of the current scientific and technical revolution.

9. Loyal to its tradition of international solidarity, Vietnamese workers and trade unions continue to actively contribute to the common struggle of workers and the world trade union movement for the benefit of workers, for peace, democracy, national independence, social development and progress; to the expansion of unified action of trade union organizations under international organizations, and different political trends.

The direction of international activities of Vietnamese Trade Unions in the coming years is to continue to strengthen relations between workers and Trade Unions of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, friendly and cooperative relations with trade unions of the Soviet Union and other S.H. C. N countries to actively contribute to expanding economic links between Vietnam and socialist countries; continue to consolidate and develop cooperation with the world trade union union union, develop friendly and unified action relations with Trade Unions of countries and international Trade Union organizations of different trends to take advantage of favorable international conditions for the cause of building S.H. and protecting the Fatherland; and at the same time actively contribute to the struggle to maintain peace in Southeast Asia, Asia - Pacific and the world; establish a new international economic order; expand democracy and trade union rights; for the good jobs and lives of workers.

10. The Congress assigned the Executive Committee of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, term VI, to organize the implementation of the tasks set out in this Resolution, and each year must set out a program with specific goals to successfully implement the Congress's Resolution. Strengthen the coordination relationship with the Council of Ministers and economic management and state management agencies to solve problems arising in production and life of workers and laborers.

The Congress called on all officials, union members and workers and laborers nationwide to enthusiastically take the lead in the renovation cause, contributing to stabilizing the socio-economic situation, creating a premise for development in the following years.

Excerpt from the book "Vietnamese Trade Union from the 1st to the 10th Congress" by Lao Dong Publishing House.