Chairman of the City People's Committee Tran Sy Thanh:

Leaders of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, Hanoi city attended the Conference. *Photo: Viet Thanh.*

Attending the conference were comrades: Ngo Duy Hieu - Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee, Vice President of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor (VGCL); leaders of departments, branches and more than 200 workers and laborers, representing more than 2.7 million union members, workers, civil servants and laborers (CNVCLĐ) in the capital.

Social housing - a "hot" topic in dialogue

Previously, the Organizing Committee had collected 500 opinions from workers and laborers. The questions focused on groups of content related to housing, insurance, welfare, health care for workers...

As the first worker to mention the issue of social housing, Ms. Nguyen Thi Huyen Trang (Star Fashion Company Limited, Phu Nghia Industrial Park) said that the supply of housing near the industrial park is still seriously lacking, making it impossible for many potential workers to move to work and live there permanently. Therefore, Ms. Huyen proposed to the Hanoi People's Committee to consider building low-cost boarding houses and kindergartens for children of workers and laborers to solve the problem of housing for workers, ensuring family and job stability for workers.

Workers and laborers attending the conference. *Photo: Viet Thanh*

With the same concern, Ms. Chu Thi Bau (Kanepackage Company Limited) reflected that the current regulation on income under 15 million VND/month to be eligible to buy social housing in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City is too high. The minimum wage for workers in Hanoi is at least over 4 million VND and most businesses pay higher than the regional minimum wage. In addition to salary, there is also a bonus policy, especially Tet bonus, many businesses give 3 months of salary, so the income of many workers reaches over 15 million VND. With this level, compared to prices and expenses in the city, workers' lives are still tight but do not meet the conditions to buy social housing.

Ms. Bau suggested that the city consider and recommend to the competent authority to adjust the conditions for buying social housing to: Income of 25 million VND or less or 20 million VND or less is eligible to buy social housing to suit the reality in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Besides the issue of housing, the issues that workers reflected at the conference were the lack of schools for workers' children; lack of sports facilities for workers to exercise after work; research on adding 2 days off for National Day (from September 2 to 5) to create opportunities for workers to take their children to school on the first day of school...

Ms. Nguyen Minh Hien (Thanh Nhan Hospital) said that although the city and the Government have paid great attention to the lives of workers in the past, especially workers in the health sector have had their salaries increased, this group still faces many difficulties in terms of salary, housing, benefits for highly qualified people, and on-site training...

More specifically, Ms. Vu Thi Hue (Long Bien District Medical Center) reflected: Implementing the Capital Law, from January 1, 2025, cadres, civil servants, and public employees working in state agencies, the Vietnam Fatherland Front, socio-political organizations, and public service units whose regular expenses are fully guaranteed by the state budget under the city's management will enjoy an additional income coefficient of 0.8 based on their capacity and work efficiency. However, district medical centers and public schools in Hanoi are public service units with partial autonomy in regular expenses (although the autonomy rate is very low), so the medical staff at the grassroots medical level and education officials will not enjoy that additional income.

Ms. Vu Thi Hue proposed that the Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee direct relevant agencies to research and consider submitting to competent authorities to allow grassroots medical staff to receive a 0.8 allowance like other civil servants and public employees of the city.

From the actual situation, Mr. Cao Tien Manh (Song Tich Irrigation Company Limited) informed that by March 2025, irrigation companies in Hanoi have not been allocated funds to order irrigation services in 2025, so there is no fund to pay salaries for January and February and other policies for employees, as well as cover production and business activities of the unit.....

Investing in facilities, improving workers' lives

During more than 2 hours, the conference heard dozens of direct exchanges of opinions and 16 questions sent to the Organizing Committee.

Responding to workers' opinions on housing, Mr. Luyen Van Phuong, Deputy Director of the Department of Construction, said that the city has paid attention to this issue, issued programs and plans for departments and branches to review and implement.

Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee Tran Sy Thanh speaks at the Conference. *Photo: Viet Thanh*

Regarding the demand survey, through discussions with the Management Board of Hanoi High-Tech Park and Industrial Park, it was found that the survey at the company and the needs of workers have not been determined.

Mr. Phuong admitted that the delay was the fault of the relevant units. Recently, the Prime Minister has submitted to the National Assembly the procedures for building social housing, which resolved many issues from assigning investors to procedural processes. The Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Construction hopes that the shortcomings mentioned by workers will be gradually resolved. At the same time, he requested the City Labor Federation to continue to coordinate with units to survey the reasonable needs of workers.

Regarding this issue, Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee Tran Sy Thanh said that this year, Hanoi issued a plan to exceed the social housing quota assigned by the Prime Minister. The opinions of workers regarding the housing demand issue are completely legitimate.

Currently, sub-leasing and secondary leasing are very rigid. Many people provide rental housing; however, to improve fire safety, security and order, and the living conditions of workers' dormitories... a more systematic view is needed. The Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee suggested that the City Labor Federation and relevant departments study the Capital Law to determine a specific mechanism for Hanoi, and propose solutions to give the majority of workers and laborers the opportunity to access social housing.

Regarding the proposal to study additional holidays in the year, especially the proposal to extend the National Day holiday from September 2 to September 5 every year to create conditions for employees to take their children to school, Deputy Director of the Department of Home Affairs Nguyen Tay Nam accepted this proposal and will assign specialized agencies to coordinate with relevant departments and branches to synthesize and study thoroughly. On that basis, a document will be issued to relevant ministries and branches to submit to the Government for consideration and appropriate adjustment.

Regarding the issue of investing in infrastructure and improving the lives of workers, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture and Sports Nguyen Thi Mai Huong said that 100% of communes, wards and towns have stadiums; 99.2% of villages and hamlets have cultural houses and sports areas; 75% of residential groups have cultural houses and community activity areas, along with 1,566 facilities and clubs for physical training and sports spread across 30 districts, towns and cities are basic conditions to meet the needs of workers after work.

Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee Tran Sy Thanh and Vice President of Vietnam General Confederation of Labor Ngo Duy Hieu presented gifts to workers in difficult circumstances. *Photo: Viet Thanh*

Localities with industrial parks and industrial clusters in the area are mostly localities with a basically complete system of cultural and sports institutions such as: Long Bien, Dong Anh, Gia Lam, Soc Son, Me Linh are all localities with 100% of villages and residential groups having cultural houses, 100% of communes, wards and towns having cultural centers or multi-purpose halls; 100% of villages and residential groups have outdoor sports installation sites and simple sports training grounds...

In the coming time, to create more space for workers to practice and participate in cultural and artistic activities, the Department of Culture and Sports will continue to review and coordinate with relevant departments and branches to advise and propose to the City People's Committee appropriate and effective solutions to meet the needs of workers, thereby contributing to improving the quality of life and work.

Listening to the opinions exchanged at the conference, Chairman of the City People's Committee Tran Sy Thanh assessed that the leaders of departments, branches, and local leaders had discussed and answered correctly and accurately many questions of the workers. Regarding the contents beyond their authority, comrade Tran Sy Thanh requested that the departments and branches synthesize and propose to the superiors to study and resolve. Each part of the work must have feedback for the workers.

The Chairman of the City People's Committee affirmed that every step forward and every common success of the city cannot be without the important role of the Capital's workers. The city fully accepts opinions, focuses on reviewing institutions, mechanisms, and policies, quickly supplements, amends, and perfects them, to best meet the legitimate aspirations of workers.

Deputy Head of the Propaganda and Mass Mobilization Department of the City Party Committee Vu Ha and Chairman of the City Labor Federation Pham Quang Thanh presented gifts to workers in difficult circumstances. *Photo: Viet Thanh.*

The Chairman of the City People's Committee requested that, in order to meet the requirements of innovation and enter the era of growth, first of all, agencies and units must consolidate the administrative apparatus, creating momentum for the new era. Determine the system of documents and institutions from the Constitution to legal regulations; strengthen integration and develop science and technology, innovation and creativity. At the same time, more clearly define the role of enterprises, entrepreneurs, especially the private sector and workers, and make appropriate investments. This is a core issue, contributing significantly to growth, creating the premise for workers and businesses to contribute and make breakthroughs.

After the dialogue program, Chairman of the City People's Committee Tran Sy Thanh presented 50 gifts to workers in difficult circumstances.

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/chu-cich-ubnd-thanh-pho-tran-sy-thanh-thao-go-nut-that-de-nguoi-lao-dong-cong-hien-but-pha-703817.html