Contributing to the draft revised Law on Social Insurance, the Vietnam Textile and Garment Trade Union and the Vietnam Health Trade Union recently made recommendations to protect the rights of female workers, including maternity benefits.
The draft law on social insurance stipulates that during pregnancy, female workers are allowed to take leave to go for prenatal check-ups up to 5 times.
More need for prenatal checkups due to environmental pollution
According to Ms. Nguyen Thanh Hoan, Head of the Policy and Law Department of the Vietnam Textile and Garment Trade Union, the Social Insurance Law is the main pillar of the social security system, so the amendment will have a wide impact on many subjects, including millions of workers and laborers.
The textile industry is the largest employer among all economic sectors in Vietnam, especially female workers. Therefore, the revised social insurance policies directly impact the lives of workers such as sickness, maternity, retirement, etc.
According to the regulations on maternity benefits in the draft law on social insurance, during pregnancy, female employees are allowed to take leave from work to go for prenatal check-ups up to 5 times. The maximum time off from work to enjoy benefits for prenatal check-ups is 2 days, for 1 prenatal check-up.
However, the representative of the Vietnam Textile and Garment Trade Union said that the maximum number of prenatal check-ups of 5 times is too little and there should be no regulation on the maximum number of days off for prenatal check-ups. Ms. Hoan shared: "In reality, textile and garment enterprises have a large number of female workers (70 - 75%) and often 7 - 9% of female workers enjoy maternity benefits. Currently, due to environmental pollution, many epidemics, not to mention some cases of giving birth by IVF, twin pregnancies... the need for prenatal check-ups is higher, while the regulation is to enjoy the social insurance prenatal check-up regime of 5 times, so female workers have to take 3 - 5 days off for annual leave to go for prenatal check-ups and vaccinations".
To increase benefits for workers, the Vietnam Textile and Garment Trade Union proposed increasing the number of prenatal check-ups corresponding to the number of months from pregnancy to birth from 5 to 9 times, and the maximum time off work to enjoy the regime during prenatal check-ups is 2 days.
In case a female employee does not use up all the time for prenatal check-ups, is in good health and the employer agrees to let the employee work, in addition to the social insurance payment, the employee will be paid additional salary according to the work done during the break, this working time is not counted as overtime of the employee.
Increase the number of prenatal checkups to ensure the mother's health
Chairman of the Vietnam Health Trade Union Pham Thanh Binh proposed that the 5-day leave for prenatal check-ups should be revised to the minimum and the maximum should be 9 days, corresponding to a prenatal check-up once a month throughout the pregnancy. According to Ms. Binh, a woman's pregnancy lasts 9 months and 10 days, and the usual schedule for prenatal check-ups is once a month. Therefore, the regulation that only 5 prenatal check-ups are covered is too little.
Considering the above regulation unreasonable because during pregnancy and childbirth, female workers go for prenatal check-ups more than 5 times, a representative of the Vietnam Education Trade Union expressed: "Recommendations from a medical perspective all indicate that, normally, pregnant women must undergo at least 7 regular prenatal check-ups. In addition, there are prenatal check-ups as specially prescribed by the doctor, to ensure the development of the fetus and the health of the mother."
Therefore, the representative of the Vietnam Education Trade Union proposed that the draft law should be adjusted to increase the number of times off work for prenatal check-ups to 7 times. In addition, female employees can take social insurance leave in case they have to go for prenatal check-ups more than 7 times, as prescribed by a doctor.
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