Building a modern and strong Vietnamese working class in the new era of national development

Dear comrade, in the context of industrialization, modernization, international integration and international integration today, how do you evaluate the role, position and development of the Vietnamese working class after 40 years of renovation?

- Since its inception, especially in the past 40 years of renovation, the working class of our country has always affirmed its historical mission, role and position as the revolutionary leadership class through its frontline team, the Communist Party of Vietnam. Entering the period of accelerating industrialization, modernization and international integration, the working class continues to play a core role, directly maintaining and developing production, creating a large part of material wealth, contributing mainly to the state budget.

According to the report of the General Statistics Office, the country currently has about 17.5 million workers in the industry - construction sector and 21.2 million workers in the service sector, accounting for about 39% of the population and 73.6% of the social labor force. The quality and qualifications have been gradually improved; the rate of trained workers has increased from 64.5% in 2020 to 70% in 2025, of which the rate of workers with degrees and certificates increased from 24.1% in 2020 to about 29.2% in 2025. In particular, there is a young class of workers who are mastering the STI that is taking shape, demonstrating the new momentum of the Vietnamese working class in the digital age.

According to the records of the Trade Unions at all levels, in recent times, the material and spiritual life of workers has improved. Basic employment is stable; income and wages are increased; the working environment is constantly improved; labor relations are harmonious, stable and progressive, the number of disputes and collective work stoppages has decreased sharply. Grassroots democracy regulations have been expanded; social security and welfare policies have been increasingly developed.

As the largest representative organization of workers, what key solutions has the Vietnam Trade Union implemented, comrade?

- As the "largest representative organization, gathering center, solidarity of the working class and laborers (NLD) in the country", the Vietnam Trade Union has implemented many solutions to participate with the entire political system to build a modern and strong Vietnamese working class, a pioneer force in implementing the task of rapid and sustainable development of the country.

First, strengthen training, education, improve political and legal qualifications, class awareness, and national spirit for the working class. The trade union has proactively and flexibly chosen many forms, including applying digital technology to innovate methods of propaganda, dissemination of policies and laws; compiling and distributing a large amount of documents for political and ideological education. Legal consultation and support activities have raised legal awareness. the ability to protect the rights of employees, contributing to building harmonious, stable and progressive relationships in enterprises.

Studying and following Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality and style is carried out regularly. Cultural activities and the network of propagandists were effective. Cultural institution models, self-management groups in boarding houses, and activities to care for spiritual life continue to be replicated. Every year, over 80% of union members and employees study and grasp the Party's guidelines and policies; the State's policies and laws and regulations of agencies, units and enterprises.

Second, actively participate in training, improve educational qualifications, professional skills, and improve labor productivity for workers. The work of mobilizing employees and employees to study for life has many effective models that have been replicated; proactively propose to the government, negotiate with employers to create conditions for workers to participate in studying and improving their skills. Trade unions at all levels have proactively coordinated to organize many activities such as: building a fund to encourage learning and learning points; coordinating the organization of training and retraining classes; encouraging the pair model between high-level workers and new workers.

Third, create an environment for workers to practice and mature through patriotic emulation movements and campaigns across the country. The patriotic emulation movement, "Good workers, Creative workers" has had millions of initiatives, the value of hundreds of thousands of billions of VND has strongly aroused the spirit of creativity, sense of discipline and social responsibility of workers, contributing to improving productivity, quality and labor efficiency nationwide. The rate of reward for direct employees and those who do not hold leadership positions reached 35.5%, exceeding the set target, clearly demonstrating the orientation of taking employees as the center, strongly rewarding the grassroots, where the emulation movements are directly organized and responded to.

Fourth, the Vietnam Trade Union continues to affirm its role as a representative, caregiver and defender of the legitimate and legal rights and interests of employees. Trade unions at all levels have contributed to giving comments on thousands of legal documents; effectively participated in the National Wage Council, proposed to adjust the minimum wage; reflected the thoughts and aspirations of workers and employees to Party committees and authorities at all levels; at the same time, improved the quality of dialogue and collective bargaining.

As a result, 80.42% of the collective labor agreements were signed with many more beneficial terms for employees such as wages, bonuses, labor norms, safety, occupational hygiene, working conditions, mid-shift meals, etc.

Union member welfare policies have become a practical support for millions of employees. The programs "Union Shelter", "Tet Sum Vay", "Worker's Month" have been widely implemented; a number of new models of care have been formed and implemented, achieving positive and typical results such as "Union Meal".

After 2 years of organization (2024, 2025), more than 20,000 grassroots trade unions have organized "Union Meals" with the participation of more than 5 million union members. Nearly 23 million union members and employees were taken care of during the Lunar New Year with a total amount of nearly VND15,000 billion.

Fifth, the Vietnam Trade Union strengthens coordination with all levels and sectors in building a modern and strong working class; promotes the core role of the working class in the alliance with the farming class and intellectuals, while promoting the process of "lityarization" of workers. Thereby, improving the capacity, professional qualifications, professional skills and creative thinking of workers, contributing to building a modern and dynamic workforce, meeting the requirements of industrialization, modernization and international integration.

In the 2023-2025 period, the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor awarded 1,457 Creative Labor Certificates to outstanding and outstanding individuals.

According to him, what are the major challenges facing the Trade Union and workers today?

- In addition to the important results achieved, practice shows that the task of building the Vietnamese working class still faces many challenges, which are:

Firstly, the development of the working class has not kept up with the requirements of the growth model and the country's development strategy. The quality of workers' human resources is still limited; the technical labor structure is unbalanced, there is a shortage of skilled workers, high-tech workers and workers with the ability to master modern technology. The young workforce is large but unstable, the working age is short, the risk of shifting to the informal sector is increasing, reducing the long-term sustainability of the working class.

Second, prolonged inadequacies in distributing benefits and ensuring social security reduce the motivation for workers to strive. Employment is not sustainable; the minimum wage is not enough to live on; the income gap between labor groups and between regions is still large. The social welfare system, especially housing, kindergartens, medical facilities and places for learning and spiritual and cultural activities, is lacking, increasing differentiation within the working class and posing a potential risk of instability in labor relations.

Third, the human resource governance model is slow to innovate and is not in line with the requirements of sustainable development. High labor intensity and long working hours are still common, while investment in technology innovation, productivity improvement and human resource quality are not commensurate. This limits the ability to regenerate labor, improve skills and take care of workers' comprehensive lives, long-term affecting national competitiveness.

Fourth, the work of summarizing practices and researching the theory of the working class has not met the requirements of the new context. Many new arising issues have not been fully resolved; breakthrough policies and guidelines have not been formed in building the working class.

Fifth, the class awareness, political courage and legal understanding of a part of the workers are still limited; the work of discovering and training excellent workers to train and arrange them in the political system is still inadequate. Trade union activities, especially in non-state enterprises and foreign-invested enterprises, still face many difficulties; the law allowing the establishment of labor organizations at enterprises is at risk of being exploited to divide the working class, posing new challenges to the leadership of the Party.

Dear comrade, in order to build a modern and strong Vietnamese working class, what key tasks and solutions will the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor propose to the Party Central Committee and the Congress?

- To build a modern and strong Vietnamese working class, the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor proposed to the Party Central Committee and the Congress 5 main contents.

First, issue a strategy to build a working class associated with an socio-economic development strategy, specifying the orientation to build a modern and strong Vietnamese working class, associated with the development of science and technology and innovation. Focus on improving education, expertise, professional skills, industrial style and labor discipline so that the Vietnamese working class can adapt, develop, master knowledge, technology, integrate internationally and promote initiatives and innovations in the new era of development.

Second, ensure a harmonious distribution of benefits between employees, employers and society, with the platform issuing regulations on the minimum living standard instead of the minimum wage. It is necessary to expand the welfare and social security system, pay attention to social insurance, housing, kindergartens, kindergartens, health care, education and the cultural and spiritual life of workers; promote social responsibility of enterprises, encourage fair sharing of benefits, create sustainable jobs, enough salary to live on and invest in human development.

Third, research on reducing working hours, improving the quality of life of employees, associated with improving productivity and national competitiveness. This is a legitimate need to help workers regenerate their labor capacity, care for their spiritual life, take care of their families and children, and have more learning conditions, improve their qualifications and professional skills, promote productivity, human resource quality and the competitiveness of the economy, thereby affirming the pioneering role of the Vietnamese working class in the new era.

Fourth, focus more on theoretical research and summarizing practical work on building the working class. Direct the entire system to conquer and summarize 20 years of implementing Resolution No. 20-NQ/TW of the Party Central Committee (term X) on "Continuing to build the Vietnamese working class in the period of accelerating industrialization and modernization of the country", on that basis forming a new leadership policy to build a modern and strong Vietnamese working class in the new era of development.

Fifth, innovate and strengthen the leadership of the Party, the coordination and support of the State and the political system to promote the role of the Vietnam Trade Union in building a modern and strong working class. Complete the mechanism, proactively fight and prevent the exploitation of the right to establish an organization of employees to divide the working class, distort and sabotage the Party, State and Trade Union. Pay attention to promoting the admission of outstanding union members to the Party, especially in enterprises that do not have a grassroots party organization.

With absolute confidence in the leadership of the Party and the great success of the 14th National Party Congress, the working class and the Vietnam Trade Union organization pledge to unite, promote the glorious tradition and revolutionary pioneering spirit, steadfastly move forward under the glorious flag of the Communist Party of Vietnam, determined to make continuous efforts, proactively and creatively soon bring the Resolution of the 14th National Party Congress into life; join the entire Party, the entire people and the entire army to join hands and unanimously realize the aspiration to develop a prosperous and happy country.

- Sincerely thank you comrade Nguyen Dinh Khang!

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