From the time he participated in the Saigon-Cho Lon workers' movement in the 1930s until he assumed the responsibility of General Secretary of the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam , wherever he was or whatever he did, he devoted all his talent, intelligence and enthusiasm to the Party, the working class and the working people.
During his tenure as President of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor (1978-1980), Comrade Nguyen Van Linh persistently oriented the innovation of trade union thinking from administrative work to practical activities to care for, protect and promote the role of workers in the country's construction. He clearly identified the need to innovate the content and methods of operation so that trade unions can promote their great role for the working class and the whole society. He pointed out: "To maintain and develop production, first of all, we must care for the material and spiritual life of workers.
Grassroots leaders must always be close to workers, grasp the situation and promptly commend and promote new talents. From there, he directed trade unions at all levels to gather and mobilize workers and laborers to enthusiastically compete in labor production, complete plans; organize and gradually improve life, develop welfare, protect the legitimate interests of workers and civil servants; mobilize cadres and civil servants to actively participate in improving enterprise management, economic management, state management; improve working methods, and build strong trade unions.
Becoming General Secretary at the 6th Party Congress (1986), in his position as the highest leader of the Party, he continued to pay attention to directing the reform of trade unions and emphasized that first of all, trade union cadres must renew their thinking and style, closely linking theory and practice. He said: “To be a trade union cadre, one must be brave, dare to sacrifice personal interests for the interests of workers; must not compromise, nor be too rigid; must be flexible but not against the law; be determined but not extreme”.
In the context of national renewal, comrade Nguyen Van Linh pointed out that the target of trade unions must be expanded, trade union activities must not only be limited to the cadres, workers, and state employees but must also cover the private enterprise sector, foreign-invested enterprises, industrial production, construction, and transportation cooperatives. Therefore, under the direction of comrade Nguyen Van Linh and the Party Central Committee, in October 1988, the 6th Congress of the Vietnam Trade Union decided to change the name of "Vietnam General Confederation of Labor" to "Vietnam General Confederation of Labor". This was not just an adjustment of the name, but a step to affirm the stature and expanded scope of representation of trade unions in a multi-sector economy.
He directed that trade union activities must be based on the characteristics of each type of economy to have appropriate forms, must be consistent with the requirements and tasks of each revolutionary stage and the specific conditions of workers and laborers. Following President Ho Chi Minh's thought on organizing trade unions according to "industry" and "occupation", according to the "horizontal" and "vertical" system, this viewpoint of Comrade Nguyen Van Linh created the foundation for the birth of trade union organization models in the renovation period such as: trade unions of occupations, industrial park trade unions, general company trade unions, trade unions...
Thoroughly grasping the guiding viewpoints of Comrade Nguyen Van Linh, after nearly 40 years of implementing the country's renovation, the Vietnam Trade Union has constantly strived to innovate itself, gradually adapting to the major changes of the socio-economic situation, proactively transforming itself to meet the requirements of the socialist-oriented market mechanism. That process is clearly demonstrated through the innovation of the organizational apparatus, operating methods, improving representative capacity, especially expanding the scope of gathering workers.
In recent terms of the Vietnam Trade Union Congress, especially after the Politburo issued Resolution No. 02-NQ/TW, dated June 12, 2021 on "Innovation of organization and operation of Vietnam Trade Union in the new situation", the trade union has strongly shifted its focus of activities, expanding the gathering of union members in the non-state sector and the informal sector.
On August 27, 2024, the Executive Committee of the 13th Vietnam General Confederation of Labor issued Resolution No. 06/NQ-BCH on promoting the development of union members and the establishment of grassroots trade unions in non-state enterprises by 2028, with a vision to 2033. Implementing the 2025 working theme "Focusing on developing union members; participating in building a clean and strong Party", the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor issued and implemented the Plan for developing union members and establishing grassroots trade unions in 2025. As a result, in the first 6 months of 2025, trade unions at all levels admitted 507,022 new members, of which the informal sector reached 14,460 members.
In the context of focusing on the non-state sector and the informal sector, along with expanding and improving the quality of care activities, trade unions at all levels have made great efforts to shift their activities to representing and protecting the rights of union members and workers through participating in policy and law making, dialogue, negotiation, and signing of collective labor agreements. In the first 6 months of 2025, 1,429 new collective labor agreements were signed; nearly 33,753 periodic dialogues, 7,269 dialogues upon request, and nearly 3,871 dialogues when incidents occurred were organized. On the occasion of the Lunar New Year of At Ty in 2025, 11,350 million union members, workers and their relatives benefited from care activities organized by the Trade Union (an increase of 9.25% compared to 2024), with a total budget of 7,800 billion VND (an increase of 9% compared to 2024). During Workers' Month in 2025, more than 1.4 million union members and workers were supported and cared for in many forms, with a total budget of more than 265 billion VND.
Trade unions at all levels have been focusing on implementing Resolution No. 02-NQ/TW of the Politburo and the revolution of rearranging the political system apparatus "Straight-Compact-Strong-Efficient-Effective-Effective". The Vietnam General Confederation of Labor has actively directed the rearrangement and streamlining of the trade union apparatus at all levels, including ending the activities of district-level and equivalent trade unions, ending the activities and not establishing trade union organizations in administrative agencies, armed forces, and public service units receiving 100% of their salaries from the state budget; reviewing and orienting the model of commune, ward, and provincial trade unions in line with the model of organizing two-level local governments; rearranging and reorganizing enterprises and public service units of trade unions.
At the same time, participate in building and amending the legal system, focusing on the 2013 Constitution and the 2024 Trade Union Law to ensure institutional synchronization with the requirements of trade union development in the new period. Along with streamlining the apparatus, trade unions will continue to focus and concentrate all their efforts on the non-state sector, especially the private economic sector, to continue to expand and develop the organization, build harmonious, stable and progressive labor relations, contributing to promoting the development of the private economy in the spirit of Resolution No. 68-NQ/TW dated May 4, 2025 of the Politburo.
These steps are an important premise for the Trade Union to continue affirming its role as the sole representative organization of workers at the national level in labor relations and international trade union relations; accompanying union members and workers on the journey to realize the aspiration to develop a strong and prosperous country in the new era - the era of national growth.
The ideology, style and leadership mark of comrade Nguyen Van Linh are not only alive in the flow of history, but also spread strongly in the process of innovation of organization and operation of Vietnam Trade Union today.
In gratitude for the great contributions of comrade Nguyen Van Linh to the workers' movement and the Vietnam Trade Union, in 2019, the Executive Committee of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor reported and was approved by the Central Party Secretariat to organize the selection and award of the award named after comrade Nguyen Van Linh - a noble award for trade union officials with outstanding achievements, many initiatives, innovations, and creativity for union members and workers, contributing to building a strong trade union organization.
Up to now, through 4 award ceremonies, 40 outstanding trade union cadres at all levels have been honored, thereby contributing to strongly spreading the spirit of innovation, creativity, and the "talk and do" style of comrade Nguyen Van Linh to build a comprehensively strong Vietnam Trade Union organization, a modern and strong Vietnamese working class, and together with the whole nation, firmly entering the new era.
Source: https://nhandan.vn/tong-bi-thu-nguyen-van-linh-voi-tam-nhin-chien-luoc-ve-doi-moi-to-chuc-va-hoat-dong-cong-doan-viet-nam-post890835.html
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