President of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour Nguyễn Đình Khang. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — As Việt Nam enters a new stage of development with higher demands for growth, innovation and deep international integration, the Vietnamese working class continues to uphold its core and pioneering role, said Nguyễn Đình Khang, Party Central Committee member and vice president of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee.

Khang, who is also secretary of the Party Committee and president of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL), made the statement to the press at the start of the 14th National Party Congress.

He said that since its inception, especially over the past four decades of the Đổi mới (Renewal) process, the Vietnamese working class had consistently fulfilled its historic mission and upheld its role as revolutionary leaders through its vanguard, the Communist Party of Việt Nam.

Entering a period of accelerated industrialisation, modernisation and international integration, the working class continued to play a pivotal role, directly sustaining and developing production, creating the bulk of material wealth and making major contributions to the State budget, Khang added.

According to the National Statistics Office, Việt Nam currently has around 17.5 million workers in the industry and construction sector and 21.2 million workers in services, accounting for about 39 per cent of the population and 73.6 per cent of the national labour force.

The proportion of trained workers rose from 64.5 per cent in 2020 to 70 per cent in 2025. Now, a new generation of young labourers capable of mastering science and technology is taking shape, reflecting the new dynamism of the Vietnamese working class in the digital era.

Khang noted that the VGCL proposed five key priorities for the Party Central Committee and the 14th Congress to build a modern and strong Vietnamese working class.

First, a comprehensive strategy to build the working class should be issued in close alignment with the strategy for socio-economic development. This would concretise the goal of building a modern, strong working class linked to advances in science, technology and innovation.

Priority should be given to improving education levels, professional qualifications, vocational skills, industrial working styles and labour discipline.

A more harmonious distribution of benefits among workers, employers and society is also needed. This could be accomplished with the introduction of a minimum living standard to replace the current minimum wage framework.

Social welfare and social security systems should be expanded, with greater attention paid to social insurance, housing, childcare facilities, health care, education and workers’ cultural and spiritual life. Corporate social responsibility should be strengthened, encouraging fair benefit-sharing, sustainable job creation, living wages and investment in human development.

Next, working hours should be gradually reduced to improve workers’ quality of life, in tandem with efforts to raise labour productivity and national competitiveness.

Greater emphasis should also be placed on theoretical research and review of the reality of working-class development.

The entire political system should review 20 years of implementing the 10th Party Central Committee's Resolution 20-NQ/TW on continuing to build the Vietnamese working class amid accelerated industrialisation and modernisation, as a basis for formulating new policies in the new era.

Finally, Party leadership should be renewed and strengthened, along with closer coordination and support from the State and the political system, to better promote the role of the trade union in building a modern and strong working class.

Mechanisms should be improved to prevent the abuse of workers’ rights and also prevent organisations from dividing the working class or undermining the Party, the State and the trade union.

Attention should also be given to admitting outstanding trade union members into the Party, especially in enterprises where local Party organisations have yet to be established. — VNA/VNS