Binh Duong Province currently has 24 Industrial Parks with some 10,094 enterprises established and being under operations which attract nearly 700,000 domestic employees and 9,820 foreign workers. Department of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs Director Phan Thanh Son confirmed good legal observation of enterprises; however admitted that the fast growing quantity of working staffs and enterprises has caused critical social issues, especially group strikes. In Binh Duong Province, 490 cases have occurred since 2008, in which 87% of participants were from FDI enterprises. The cause, as Provincial People’s Committee Deputy Chairman Huynh Van Nhi has asserted, is as follows:
- Inadequate policies and laws on payroll and income;
- Limited and weak propaganda and reinforcement of laws;
- Employees and employers pay less attention to laws propaganda sessions;
- Limitations and weakness of inspection and punishments against laws violation;
- Culture and language differences between foreign laborers and domestic work force;
- Enterprises owners fleeing after losses, leading to salary debts and influencing other policies;
- Many enterprises fail to communicate frequently with employees to resolve obstacles and questioning issues;
- Some enterprises owners have not yet offer more time for trade unions to operate and resolve appeals and complaints from laborers; this may lead to strikes;
- Some strikes were provoked by elements that threat the laborers to participate into strikes
Workers are working in textile industry
As the matter of fact, Deputy Chairman Huynh Van Nhi called for enhancing inspections and check-ups to prevent negative effects of labor disputes, especially among sensible regions and industries. He also called for:
- Specific build-up of inspection standards and guidelines for enterprises to follow;
- Activities enhancement for labor unions among enterprises;
- Reinforcement of steering boards to resolve group appeals and strikes at provincial and district levels;
- Consultancy of Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs on Reinforcement of steering boards within December 2010;
- Synchronized actions of members to the steering boards to build harmonious, stable, and advance relationship to laborers in enterprises for the purposes of resolving illegal labor disputes and strikes and stabilizing investment environment in sustainable economic development.
To resolve the issues, labor unions play certain important roles in building up relationship to laborers. The June 5, 2008 Directive No. 22/CT-TW of Secretariat under Central Committee of Vietnam Communist Party on enhancing leadership and direction of labor unions’ operations has prompted provincial labor union to plan for legislation propaganda and education. The union President Nguyen Van Khuong asserted that the organization’s role should be more active in cooperating with functional agencies.
As for disputes settlements, Dang Minh Dung – Chairman of Shyang Hung Cheng Co. Ltd., suggested that labor union should promote its role of relationship building.
From 2008, Provincial People’s Committee has hosted 10 dialogue sessions between departments, sectors and labor unions with laborers and employers. The dialogues focused generally on salary, income, and social insurance.
Reported by Van Son – Translated by Vi Bao
