National Assembly Chairman: 'Many countries want to learn from Vietnam how to increase retirement age'

(Dan Tri) - The requirement when raising the retirement age is not to cause social disruption. Many countries have held all-night meetings but have not been able to decide on this issue, while Vietnam has done it.

On the morning of January 6, Politburo member and National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue and the National Assembly delegation of Hai Phong City had a thematic meeting with nearly 700 voters representing workers, civil servants, and laborers in the port city. The meeting was of special significance as it took place at a time when the whole country was celebrating the 78th anniversary of the first General Election to elect the Vietnamese National Assembly (January 6, 1946 - January 6, 2024).

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue (middle) and delegates sitting at the presiding table to conduct the voter contact meeting (Photo: Nguyen Duong).

Increasing retirement age without causing social disruption Meeting with voters, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue acknowledged that the opinions raised at the conference were valid, of good quality and close to real life, and the National Assembly would fully absorb and study them. According to the National Assembly Chairman, one content that workers are very interested in is the 2019 Labor Code. "At that time, I was not in charge of this field, but because I was assigned to develop a Resolution on reforming wage policies and reforming social insurance policies, I was trusted by the Government to direct the development of the Labor Code," said the National Assembly Chairman. He informed that an initiative put forward in the Code passed by the National Assembly was how to increase the retirement age without causing social disruption. The head of the National Assembly recounted that he had recently been on a business trip to a number of countries and saw that the National Assembly of some countries met all night but still could not pass the issue of increasing the retirement age. Vietnam has had a creative approach, calculating to increase the retirement age gradually. For male workers, the retirement age is adjusted to increase by 3 months each year, and for female workers by 4 months. Vietnam has chosen to increase the retirement age "gradually" until it reaches 62 years old for men and 60 years old for women. "There are countries where increasing the retirement age causes social instability for up to a decade. Many countries have discussed the issue of increasing the retirement age, and protests have occurred, but in the end it was not passed. This issue in Vietnam has received high consensus and agreement, precisely because of the application of the gradual increase method. This unique method of Vietnam has not been done by any other country. Many leaders of other countries said that if the Vietnamese delegation visited early, they would learn from Vietnam's method and they would learn," the National Assembly Chairman emphasized.

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue speaks at the meeting with voters (Photo: Nguyen Duong).

Regarding wages, the National Assembly Chairman stated that this is a matter of great concern to the majority of workers and related parties. In fact, wages are the income of workers, but they are also the cost of enterprises. The principle emphasized by the Party is to build harmonious, stable and progressive labor relations between enterprises and workers. If enterprises themselves do not exist or develop, workers will have no place to work. "The minimum wage is the floor set by the State to require all enterprises not to pay workers below this floor. That floor is not the actual wage. The actual wage is agreed upon by enterprises with workers and is often paid higher than the floor," said the National Assembly Chairman. In the context of the rich relationship between employers and workers as it is today, the National Assembly Chairman said that the Law on Employment must be amended in the coming time. Regarding the issue of salary policy reform, the National Assembly Chairman informed that from July 1 this year, both the public and private sectors will receive salary increases. In the coming time, the State will only play a coordinating role, while the specific payment of salaries and bonuses to employees is under the authority of enterprises. Currently, Vietnam has mobilized 560,000 billion VND to reform salary policies for the public sector from now until the end of 2026. Proposal to increase holidays and Tet holidays in the year Previously, in the speech section, the Organizing Committee received 10 opinions directly at the conference. In which, Ms. Tran Thi Hang, an official of the Duong Kinh District Trade Union ( Hai Phong City) proposed that the National Assembly and the Government consider amending the Labor Code in the direction of adjusting the National Day holiday on September 2 to increase by 2 days so that it can be continuously off from September 2 to September 5.

Voter Phan Thi Le Thuy speaks (Photo: Nguyen Duong).

"In fact, the September 2 holiday is very close to the start of the new school year for children. Therefore, many parents want to have September 5 off to take their children to school for the opening ceremony," Ms. Hang said. Ms. Hang also proposed that the National Assembly and the Government study and regulate the retirement age of preschool teachers to be 5 years lower than the general retirement age. Concerned about the issue of social housing, Ms. Phan Thi Le Thuy, a worker at a shoe manufacturing company in Hai Phong, hopes that the National Assembly and the Government will closely monitor the construction of unit prices, procedures, and procedures for selling social housing in a public, transparent, and appropriate manner to the right beneficiaries.

Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung speaks at the meeting with voters (Photo: Nguyen Duong).

Assigned by the National Assembly Chairman to answer some opinions raised by voters, Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung explained that the issue of adding 2 public holidays on the occasion of National Day, in addition to the meaning of encouraging employees, will create pressure on employers because those are 2 paid days off for employees. Mr. Dung emphasized that when comparing the time off for holidays and Tet between countries, it is also necessary to compare the correlation with the total working time fund in the year according to the provisions of law (including the total working hours and the maximum overtime hours). Comparing and evaluating the competitiveness of the labor force, it can be seen that currently, the total working time fund of Vietnam is much lower than that of countries in the region and Asia. Therefore, for the proposal to add days off in the year, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs will have to coordinate with the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, the Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry, the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance, a number of business associations and relevant ministries and branches to assess the socio-economic impact and research and advise in the process of amending and supplementing the Labor Code. Regarding the proposal to lower the retirement age for preschool teachers compared to the general retirement age, Minister Dao Ngoc Dung analyzed that the retirement regime, also known as the old age regime, is one of the basic regimes of the social insurance policy (SI) to ensure a monthly income for employees when they reach retirement age. According to the provisions of the law on SI, to receive a monthly pension, employees must simultaneously meet two conditions on age and SI contribution period to ensure harmony and balance between the contribution period and the benefit period, thereby ensuring the balance and long-term sustainability of the SI Fund.

Dantri.com.vn

Source link