The more people fight, the more they are oppressed and fired.

"Unsafe" operating area

On May 12, the Ho Chi Minh City Labor Federation coordinated with the Institute of Workers and Trade Unions to organize a seminar on "The current state of trade union activities, the implementation of the 2012 Trade Union Law in Ho Chi Minh City and proposed solutions and recommendations for improvement".

Những người càng đấu tranh mạnh mẽ càng bị chèn ép, tìm cách sa thải - 1 — Delegates give comments at the discussion (Photo: Tung Nguyen).

At the seminar, Dr. Vu Minh Tien - Director of the Institute of Workers and Trade Unions emphasized trade union activities at grassroots trade unions in the enterprise sector, including organizing collective bargaining, dialogue between employers and employees, participating in building and monitoring business policies, handling disputes of interests between workers and employers, organizing strikes to protect workers' rights, etc.

Ms. Nguyen Phan Bao Khuyen, an expert at the Ho Chi Minh City Labor Federation Legal Consulting Center, said that the center had just successfully defended a grassroots union official who was illegally fired. As a result, the court ordered the business owner to pay VND500 million in compensation and reinstate the official.

According to Ms. Khuyen, through legal support activities for workers, the center has recorded that labor disputes between grassroots union officials and employers like the above are quite common, especially in the non-state enterprise sector.

Because when grassroots union officials are active and fight for workers' rights, it is inevitable that employers will hate, oppress, and even find ways to fire them.

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Cuong, Permanent Vice President of Thu Duc City Labor Federation, said: "Grassroots union officials are operating in unsafe areas. There needs to be a better mechanism to protect grassroots union officials, especially in non-state enterprises, so that representatives of workers can work with peace of mind."

Những người càng đấu tranh mạnh mẽ càng bị chèn ép, tìm cách sa thải - 2 — Mr. Nguyen Dinh Cuong is concerned about the mechanism to protect union officials at non-state enterprises (Photo: Tung Nguyen).

According to Mr. Cuong, many grassroots union officials are good but their union activities are ineffective because they receive salaries from the business and are "afraid" to fight against issues that harm the interests of the business. Others are also afraid of being oppressed, affecting their professional work.

Untrained staff

Representing business owners, Ms. Tran Dieu Canh, General Director of Tan Thanh Mechanical Trading Joint Stock Company, assessed that the union is still a structure that helps businesses operate if union officials have the capacity to organize. Many businesses still create conditions for unions to operate.

Những người càng đấu tranh mạnh mẽ càng bị chèn ép, tìm cách sa thải - 3 — Large enterprises are very interested in trade union activities (Photo: Tan Nguyen).

Ms. Nguyen Phan Bao Khuyen also agreed that large enterprises with many workers highly value trade unions. Because the negotiation and collective agreement activities organized by trade unions are objective, more easily accepted by workers than orders from business owners, positively affecting the professional work of the enterprise.

However, small businesses with few workers often do not care about union activities, and grassroots union officials have weak capacity, leading to lack of confidence in negotiating, ineffective operations, and distrust from both employers and workers.

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Cuong commented that trade union activities in non-state enterprises are very difficult, especially in small enterprises with 10 employees or less, where trade unions are mostly established just for show, to deal with inspection teams.

Mr. Tran Van Hung, Chairman of the Trade Union of Tan Thanh Mechanical Trading Joint Stock Company, also reflected on the current situation of grassroots trade union officials not being properly trained but only accumulating experience and knowledge through practical work, so they do not know how to do many things. According to him, dialogue and negotiation activities cannot be done by union officials who lack expertise.

Những người càng đấu tranh mạnh mẽ càng bị chèn ép, tìm cách sa thải - 4 — Mr. Tran Van Hung proposed to have regulations on professional training for grassroots union officials (Photo: Tung Nguyen).

Therefore, Mr. Hung suggested that the Trade Union Law should have provisions and mechanisms regulating the training of knowledge on trade union activities for grassroots trade union officials, especially in non-state enterprises. This would help trade union officials have the capacity to work and better protect the rights of workers.

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