Collective Employment Agreement: Universal Application Needed

Mr Nguyen Tung Van, Chairman of Trade Union at the Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex), said: After joining the collective bargaining agreement, the awareness of employees and employers is raised. Companies understand that the workforce is their most valuable asset and labourers know their rights and interests more clearly.

 

Importantly, after the amended Collective Employment Agreement is applied, companies in some industries like garment, textile, leather, footwear and seafood started forming labour price markets. The collective agreement adds wage pressure on employers because improper pay for labour will easily lead to the inability to maintain or develop their workforce, or even strike action or go-slow action in the worst case.

 

According to Mr Pham Minh Huan, Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, many companies are implementing good contents beyond the Collective Employment Agreement in an effort to increase benefits for employees. For example, some companies offer free meals and housing for workers; set up support funds for poor female workers or extremely poor workers; build kindergartens for children of their employees; and organise domestic and outbound excursions for workers. These works reflect culture, awareness and vision of companies concerning the sustained development of human resources, said Mr Huan.

 

Moreover, the Collective Bargaining Agreement includes the rise in minimum average wage for full-time blue-collar workers and guarantees working norms and workers’ minimum wage of at least VND1.95 million per person a month in Zone 1, VND1.85 million in Zone 2, VND1.75 million in Zone 3, and VND1.55 million in Zone 4. These regulations provide a more proper "wage mechanism" for labour used. For employers, higher expenses will generate a greater outcome: personnel stability, which determines stability for the companies.

 

Some companies use their business performance and consumer price developments as a basis to revise meal budgets and wages upward every six months or one year.

 

According to some experts, the second Collective Employment Agreement favours employees. Their rights and interested are protected relatively well, from minimum wage to other preferences and meals. These conditions strengthen the trust of employees in the companies and inspire their devotion to the companies. Besides, this is a legal bond for enterprises. It can be said that the new Collective Employment Agreement basically harmonies benefits of both employers and employees.

 

Mr Tran Van Pho, President of Hoa Tho Garment Company, said strike actions and go-slow actions concerning wages do not occur in joint stock companies but in private and foreign-owned enterprises. Vinatex’s member companies have which entered the Collective Employment Agreement extend medical insurance and social insurance and revise up salaries for their employees annually. Meanwhile, many private and foreign-invested companies just pay salaries. The Government should have measures to put them in an equal position with domestic joint stock companies, said Mr Pho.

 

Mr Vo Tri Thanh, Deputy Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), said: To bring the second Collective Labour Agreement into full play, and create fair working conditions and labour prices, it is necessary to apply the agreement on a wider scope, first in all State-owned companies, then private and foreign-invested businesses.

 

Besides, Vietnam should have common incentives for all businesses, not just small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). For example, tax incentive policy is now only applicable to SMEs, but this group of business in fact lacks force for development, is prone to bankruptcy when confronting difficulties and they cannot pay unemployment compensation to their employees.

 

Besides, Mr Le Dang Doanh, Former Director of CIEM, said: The role of the Trade Union is necessarily promoted when the Collective Employment Agreement is enforced, as its role was relatively weak in the past. Trade unions understand what is happening in companies and know how to share difficulties and pressures with them. They should publicly hail good models, for instance, companies that build kindergartens, schools and clinics or organise medical checkups for workers. To do so requires the concerted coordination of State organs like the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, and Vietnam General Confederation of Labour.