Ensure to meet the needs of workers for food, accommodation and stable living
On June 19, discussing the draft Law on Housing (amended), National Assembly Deputies said that the regulations on types of accommodation facilities for workers in industrial zones as in the draft Law do not ensure strictness and scientificity. Therefore, they requested the drafting agency to review and ensure the constitutionality, legality, and consistency of the legal system, and to overcome conflicts and overlaps in regulations in this field, especially in accordance with the provisions of the Land Law and the Construction Law.
Participating in contributing opinions to complete the draft Law on Housing (amended), Delegate Tran Thi Hong Thanh (Ninh Binh delegation) said that the issue of housing for workers in industrial parks is an urgent need today. Resolution No. 06-NQ/TW dated January 24, 2022 of the Politburo on planning, construction, management and sustainable development of urban areas in Vietnam to 2030, with a vision to 2045, also determined to research and promulgate separate mechanisms and policies on investment in housing construction for workers in industrial parks in the direction of prioritizing the allocation of sufficient land funds for housing development for workers and other institutions in industrial parks, considering workers' housing as an essential infrastructure of industrial parks.
Delegate Tran Thi Hong Thanh (Ninh Binh delegation) spoke.
To institutionalize this policy, the draft Law has stipulated the type of worker accommodation in industrial parks. Accordingly, in Clause 9, Article 3 of the draft Law, it is determined that worker accommodation is a construction project invested in and built on the service land area within the scope of an industrial park according to the provisions of the law on the management of industrial parks and economic zones to arrange accommodation for workers and laborers during their working time in that industrial park according to the provisions of this Law. In Clauses 1, 2 and 3, Article 89 of the draft Law stipulates the construction of worker accommodation in industrial parks and Point c, Clause 2, Article 92 of the draft Law stipulates the requirements for projects to build worker accommodation.
Delegate Tran Thi Hong Thanh said that the regulation of the type of worker accommodation in industrial zones as in the draft Law is inappropriate, does not ensure strictness and science, and this type cannot be considered worker housing.
The National Assembly Delegate from Ninh Binh analyzed that, in principle, social housing or any type of housing must be built on residential land, and constructions on service land in industrial zones cannot be considered housing. In addition, according to the provisions of Clause 6, Article 2 of the 2020 Law on Residence, residence is the act of a citizen staying at a place other than his/her permanent residence or temporary residence for less than 30 days. Thus, residence is much less stable than residence.
Overview of the meeting.
Therefore, the Delegate requested the drafting agency to review the content of this regulation to fully institutionalize the Party's policy on investment in housing construction for industrial park workers. At the same time, ensure to meet the needs of workers for stable accommodation and living and to be consistent and synchronous with relevant legal provisions.
The draft Law should stipulate this issue in the direction that the Provincial People's Committee is responsible for determining the need to build housing areas and public works to serve the lives of workers working in industrial zones to integrate into land use planning, urban and rural planning consistent with the provisions of Clause 10, Article 197 of the draft Land Law (amended). Accordingly, the Provincial People's Committee must arrange suitable land funds to build housing for workers, ensuring the rights of workers in industrial zones according to the Party's policies and guidelines.
Identify the right policy beneficiaries
From another perspective, National Assembly Delegate Lam Van Doan (Lam Dong delegation) stated that the concept of workers' accommodation is not easy to define legally, especially defining the concept of workers in the context of the knowledge revolution, the 4.0 revolution is not easy in terms of ethics. In law, there is also no clear definition of the concept of workers. Therefore, if the concept of workers' accommodation is used implicitly, especially the concept of workers without being clearly defined, it will easily lead to policy abuse.
National Assembly Delegate Lam Van Doan (Lam Dong delegation) commented on the draft Law.
The delegate said that the concept of worker is being used interchangeably with the concept of laborer. Although the name is worker accommodation, it is actually extended to all workers working in the enterprise. According to the Labor Code, workers in the enterprise are defined as all those who work under an agreement, are paid and are under the management, direction and supervision of the employer.
It can be seen that the above regulation covers a wide range of skilled workers, unskilled workers working directly for employers, middle-level managers in enterprises, and domestic and foreign experts.
Delegates at the meeting.
Delegate Lam Van Doan emphasized that if the concept of worker is not clearly defined, the policy on worker accommodation may fall on the subjects, managers with average income or higher, experts with high income and even foreign experts. Therefore, the Delegate believes that the draft Law needs to explain the words, definitions and concepts of the concept of worker very clearly. The Delegate suggested that the Drafting Committee should carefully study Decree No. 29 of 1947 of President Ho Chi Minh, because it clearly defines the concept of worker, thereby making the policy not inconsistent.
At the same time, it is necessary to clearly define the employees in enterprises as low-income workers, below the personal income tax level, and not to define all employees in general in enterprises. Thus, the scope is too broad, the State's support for vulnerable employees in enterprises will have a certain bias; it is necessary to narrow down this concept, to explain it more clearly, thereby correctly identifying the beneficiaries of the policy.
Source
Comment (0)