Urgent demands from practice

In the context of increasingly deep international integration and rapid growth in the number of enterprises, workers and union members, the tasks of trade unions become more specific and heavier; however, the payroll of trade unions is very low, only equivalent to one-third compared to other socio- political organizations.

According to the reports of the provincial and municipal Labor Federations, as of March 31, 2024, the total number of local trade union positions assigned by local Party committees in 2024 is 5,119 positions. Meanwhile, according to the calculation of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor , based on the number of union members and grassroots unions, the total minimum number of positions required for local trade union levels is 5,899 positions. Thus, the total number of positions assigned by local Party committees to trade unions is lower than the minimum requirement of the trade union organization, which is 780 positions.

The current mechanism for managing union cadres, which is part of the payroll assigned by superiors to the Party, the Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations, has revealed a number of inappropriate points. One of the shortcomings is the lack of uniformity in payroll within the same union level. In places with a large number of union members and workers, the number of payrolls is sometimes less than in places with few union members.

At the press conference to inform about the situation of workers, trade unions and the draft Law on Trade Unions (amended), Vice President of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor Ngo Duy Hieu gave an example: Tan Uyen City, Binh Duong Province has about 96,000 union members, 554 grassroots unions but only four union officials at the upper level. That means, each union official is responsible for taking care of more than 100 establishments, nearly 25,000 union members. This is a huge amount of work placed on the shoulders of union officials.

Labor and union experts believe that the number of union positions should not depend on the population of the province, city, or industry, but on the number of union members, workers, businesses, and the economic development of each industry and locality. In addition, the allocation of positions is decided by local Party committees while financial resources are guaranteed by higher-level unions, leading to a lack of uniformity in the allocation of human resources and resources; unable to regulate from surplus to shortage areas within the country as well as within the province or city.

On the other hand, most of the grassroots union officials work part-time and are under the control of the business owners because they are employees recruited and paid by the business owners. This is a major barrier that makes grassroots union officials in enterprises have little independent and strong voice, affecting the guarantee of the rights and interests of union members and employees, especially in enterprises with many employees.

This draft Law on Trade Unions (amended) has a number of contents to change compared to the 2012 Law on Trade Unions, aiming to perfect the regulations on the organization of the trade union apparatus, the mechanism for managing trade union officials and strengthening the role of the Vietnam Trade Union in the new context. In order to institutionalize the spirit of Resolution No. 02-NQ/TW, dated June 12, 2021 of the Politburo on innovation of the organization and operation of the Vietnam Trade Union in the new situation, the draft law supplements and proposes to empower trade union organizations more proactively in personnel work in the direction of: The Vietnam General Confederation of Labor develops norms and criteria framework to determine the number of full-time trade union officials who are officials, civil servants, and public employees based on the number of trade union organizations, trade union members, and workers according to the locality and requirements of trade union activities to submit to competent authorities for decision.

The regulation also states that the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor decides on the number of full-time trade union officials who work under labor contracts in specialized trade union agencies and grassroots trade unions in each period, in accordance with the requirements of the tasks, the number of union members, workers and the financial capacity of the trade union organization.

The structure of full-time union officials in enterprises with a large number of workers managed and paid by the union is to ensure the independent and strong voice of union officials in representing and protecting the rights of workers. The amendment and supplement of the regulation giving the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor the right to proactively propose the number of union officials who are officials, civil servants and public employees in the entire system is expected to create uniformity in the payroll in the union system.

Many experts, grassroots cadres and union members believe that: Giving the General Confederation the initiative to decide the number of union cadres who are contract workers in specialized agencies and grassroots unions aims to ensure initiative and flexibility in arranging union cadres, meeting the requirements of union member development at each time and stage, contributing to improving the operational capacity of trade union organizations in the new context.

Source: https://nhandan.vn/tang-bien-che-cong-doan-doi-hoi-cap-thiet-tu-thuc-tien-post838726.html