Outstanding engineers and workers receive the Tôn Đức Thắng Award at a ceremony held in HCM City on August 20. — VNA/VNS Photo

HCM CITY — The HCM City People’s Committee, the city Labour Federation and Sài Gòn Giải Phóng (Liberated Saigon) newspaper on Tuesday gave away the Tôn Đức Thắng Awards to 15 engineers and workers to honour their technical initiatives and practical scientific projects.

The annual awards marked the 136th anniversary of the birthday of President Tôn Đức Thắng and the 95th founding anniversary of the Việt Nam Trade Union.

This year the awards received 44 entries, the highest number since their inception in 2000.

Speaking at the ceremony, Võ Khắc Thái, chairman of the labour federation, said the trade unions have been proactive in protecting the rights and interests of workers.

They plan various programmes to better serve their members and workers, he added.

To mark the 95th anniversary of the Việt Nam Trade Union, trade unions at all levels will focus on five major programmes throughout this year, including “Trade Union Shelter,” which will help 95 workers build or repair houses, and the Nguyễn Đức Cảnh scholarships to be awarded to 9,500 people.

Trade unions at all levels plan to expand their total membership by 95,000 this year.

A total of 95,000 workers living in difficult circumstances will receive assistance.

Grassroots trade union chapters will introduce 9,500 outstanding union members for membership of the Communist Party of Việt Nam.

On the occasion, the city Labour Federation honoured 16 presidents of grassroots-level trade unions and 95 groups for their contributions to trade union activities.

The Việt Nam General Confederation of Labour presented commemorative medals for the “Cause of Building Trade Union” to Nguyễn Thị Lệ, Deputy Secretary of the HCM City Party Committee and chairwoman of the city People’s Council, and Trần Thị Diệu Thúy, Vice Chairwoman of the People’s Committee and former chairwoman of the HCM City Labour Federation.

There are nearly 19,000 chapters of grassroots unions in the city with 1.4 million members. — VNS