Innovating trade union communication, keeping pace with workers

In the context of rapid socio-economic changes, enhancing thinking, skills and communication capacity has become an urgent requirement for grassroots trade union officials - those who daily listen to thoughts, grasp public opinion and convey information to millions of workers and laborers.

On the morning of December 5, in Thanh Hoa, the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor coordinated with the Thanh Hoa Provincial Labor Federation to organize a training conference to improve information and propaganda capacity for nearly 300 union officials of Thanh Hoa and Ninh Binh provinces.

Identify influencing factors

Chairing the conference, Mr. Ngo Duy Hieu - Vice President of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor - presented many strategic orientation topics for grassroots cadres. Accordingly, the new socio -economic context is having a profound impact on the operation of trade union organizations. Vietnam is promoting industrialization and modernization, the scale of the working force is increasing rapidly, leading to an increase in the number, complexity and diversity of labor groups.

In that context, the fourth industrial revolution has transformed the structure of employment, occupational skills, income and labor relations, putting workers at risk of being eliminated or having their income reduced if they cannot adapt in time.

Vice President Ngo Duy Hieu speaks at the conference. (Photo: TL)

With the trend of deep international integration, Vietnam participates in many global supply chains, must comply with labor standards and face the risk of being affected by distorted or manipulated information. Labor organizations at enterprises are allowed to be established according to the law, creating an environment of direct competition with existing trade unions. This requires trade unions to clearly demonstrate their representative values, otherwise it will be difficult to maintain their position in the eyes of workers.

According to Mr. Ngo Duy Hieu, the lives of a segment of workers still face many difficulties: unstable jobs, low income, long overtime hours, lack of family care conditions and the risk of not having a pension when they retire. The legal system still has shortcomings, some businesses still do not truly respect the rights of workers, leading to violations of labor laws still occurring.

These changes not only directly impact the lives of workers but also change the thinking and operation methods of trade unions. Without innovation, trade unions can easily fall behind the rapidly changing needs of workers and the development requirements of businesses.

Innovate methods to accompany more closely

In the part about the propaganda work of the trade union, Mr. Ngo Duy Hieu reiterated the viewpoint of President Ho Chi Minh : "Propaganda goes first to pave the way, goes together to implement, comes after to summarize". This message shows the core task of the trade union propaganda in the current period is to bring the Party's policies and guidelines to the workers quickly, correctly, and easily to understand, while promptly refuting wrong arguments.

Practical examples presented at the conference showed the key role of communication. There are collective work stoppages that break out due to lack of information or inaccurate information received by workers. But there are also cases that are resolved quickly when the union provides timely, clear and convincing information. Therefore, the initiative of grassroots union officials in listening, grasping public opinion and classifying information is considered the key to minimizing conflicts in the workplace.

The conference attracted nearly 300 union officials from Thanh Hoa and Ninh Binh provinces. (Photo: TL)

From practical requirements, the union's propaganda work needs to fundamentally change its approach. According to Mr. Ngo Duy Hieu, union officials must be more flexible, closer, more friendly and more in-depth with union members. The propaganda content needs to be concise, distilling the essence of the problem, easy to remember, easy to understand and able to be immediately applied to the reality of workers. The propaganda dosage must be appropriate for each target group, avoiding stereotypes, dogmas or being too academic.

Diversifying approaches is emphasized, especially the application of digital technology. Trade unions need to consider social networks, digital transformation applications and artificial intelligence as important support tools. In the context of the number of staff not increasing but the workload is increasing, taking advantage of digital platforms will help convey information faster, more effectively and have the ability to spread more widely among the working community.

Another important requirement raised at the conference was that the representative capacity and communication skills of trade union officials must be strengthened. This not only helps build the trust of union members but also enhances the prestige of the trade union organization in accompanying and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of workers.

The training conference is considered an important activity for the Thanh Hoa and Ninh Binh union staff. Equipping them with new skills, thinking and approaches will help them better meet the requirements of their work in a period when the union organization is strongly reforming both in terms of organization and operation methods.

Source: https://thoidai.com.vn/doi-moi-truyen-thong-cong-doan-giu-nhip-dong-hanh-cung-nguoi-lao-dong-218198.html