Labour Export Reorganised

Labour Export Reorganised

In the past few years, labour export has continued at a rate of 30,000-40,000 workers a year. In 2004, the figure stood at 67,000 workers. However, a certain number of workers have broken contracts and sought other jobs for higher pay. The violation is most serious in Japan and Korea with 20 per cent and Taiwan 9 per cent. The cause can be found in the recruitment of a big workforce in a short period of time without due preparation and training.

Meanwhile the legal framework was inadequate to ensure the compliance of the workers, the labour export companies could not co-ordinate with related authorities to control the situation.

The violation has caused serious problems not only for the companies but also the workers themselves. The workers who violated the contracts to seek higher pay have in fact put themselves in an illegal and precarious life without any protection financially and physically. The reputation of related companies will be marred and they might loss both contracts and partners. For instance, in Taiwan, the companies have to compensate US$1,500 for each worker that fled. More serious still, it even results in failure of contracts for hundreds of other workers. If the violation increases to 1,000 workers, 40,000 new workers will be rejected of entry visas in one year causing the loss of hundreds of billions of VN Dong. In fact, some markets have reduced the number of Vietnamese workers.

To improve the situation, the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (Molisa) has submitted to the government a draft Decree to control the violation. For their part, related authorities and companies must also reorganise the management and implementation of contracts to ensure the interests of the workers, companies and partners.

• Giang Tu