Trade unions of Việt Nam will constantly boost comprehensive reforms to confirm their role in the protection of workers’ and labourers’ rights, as Việt Nam strives to enhance its international integration. — Photo laodong.com.vn

HÀ NỘI – Trade unions of Việt Nam will constantly boost comprehensive reforms to confirm their role in the protection of workers’ and labourers’ rights, as Việt Nam strives to enhance its international integration, said Bùi Văn Cường, President of the Việt Nam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL).

Cường, who made a speech at a conference held earlier this week by the VGCL in Hà Nội, said that a strong trade union depended on the actions of individual members, thus a trade union official should possess high qualifications in both their trade union activities and their profession so that they could win trust from labourers and employees.

Việt Nam’s recent signing of a numbers of free trade pacts with world partners and its commitment to effectively implement such agreements including those of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) have had a strong affect on trade unions in the country, said Trần Thanh Hải, the VGCL vice chairman.

International integration creates a variety of chances for domestic labourers, but at the same time causes challenges for trade unions, according to Hải.

The official revealed that VGCL had set up a master plan on trade union reform for the years between 2016 and 2025.

Hải said the aim of the project was targeted at intensifying the action of trade union members and considered them a key to boosting the operation of the whole organisation.

Meanwhile, Vice President of the VGCL Nguyễn Thị Thu Hồng urged more legal assistance for women migrant workers saying it must be enhanced as part of trade unions’ focus. 

Hồng said the VGCL would take more measures to care for women workers in general, and female migrant workers in particular in the time ahead.

A number of legal aid models have proved effective, she said, highlighting the mobile legal assistance service in Hà Nội, the distribution of legal leaflets in southern Bình Dương Province and the provision of advice about collective labour agreements in northern Vĩnh Phúc Province.

Trade unions nationwide have established 19 centres, 42 offices and 15 groups on legal aid in all 63 provinces and cities. 
Việt Nam currently houses 282 industrial parks and 55 industrial clusters which will strongly increase in the next few years as the country’s population is forecast to reach 100 million by 2020, Hồng added. 
Meanwhile, Việt Nam is strongly developing its economy with foreign investment set to thrive thanks to the enforcement of free trade agreements like the TPP. 
The migration from rural areas to cities and industrial parks will soar, mostly among young women aged between 15 – 25 who want to seek higher incomes than in their rural hometowns, she said. 
Hồng noted women migrant workers are the most vulnerable group as they lack knowledge about their rights and benefits and labour-related laws, not to mention other difficulties such as quota fulfillment pressure, poor nutrition and insufficient income. — VNS