Vietnam Worker Defenders
The government of Vietnam has opened its economy for over 30 years and, as a developing country, Vietnam has and will receive many foreign investment projects. The number of employers is increasing and the domestic labor force is developing rapidly and abundantly.
It is a matter of utmost necessity to balance the interests of the parties and to resolve tripartite conflicts between the State, employers and employees, in order to prevent those issues from growing into major conflicts that may cause social and political instability.
Improving and supplementing the outdated manufacturing relationships between workers and employers in the nation's economy in order to integrate into the international system of modern and advanced manufacturing relationships and, in the immediate future, satisfy the urgent integration needs per EVFTA & CPTPP requirements.
In Vietnam, workers are facing many obstacles which are listed below:
a) The majority of young workers are not members in the State Trade Union network (part of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor). They are completely deprived of any support and help the trade unions could provide; for those who are members of the State Trade Union network, the trade unions have not been diligent in assisting their members when they face difficulties in their lives and have not effectively defended the legitimate interests of their members in case of disputes.
b) The majority of workers do not realize the importance of independent trade unions (workers' representative organizations) as the only and most effective tool to help them fight for their rights and interests at the workplace, to improve their living standards as well as the non-material aspects of their lives. Therefore, without an independent trade union in place, workers miss out on the means to adequately solve the problems they face in the process of protecting their rights and defining the relationship with their employer.
c/ The revised Labor Code of 2019, as passed by the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on November 20, 2019, became effective as of January 1, 2021 - Chapter XIII, Articles 170, 172, 173, 176 grant workers the right establish independent trade unions (also known as employee representative organizations), but to this day, 18 months since the day the law became effective, there has not been a single independent trade union announcing its establishment and operation to satisfy the requirements of the 2 Free Trade Agreements, EVFTA and CPTPP, the guidelines of the International Labor Convention and the Labor Code of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and society's expectations.
The main reasons are as follow:
1. The government of Vietnam does not widely disseminate information about the revised Labor Code of 2019, especially Chapter XIII, or the documents resulting from the EVFTA and CPTPP agreements and the eight International Labor Conventions (ILO) so that employees can easily access and thereby becoming aware of their rights to form independent unions. The Vietnam government also did not reach out to or call on companies (the employers) to create favorable conditions for workers to establish independent unions.
2. At the same time, the government of Vietnam also intentionally prevents workers from establishing independent unions by using state-controlled media to deter workers and falsely accuse independent trade unions (if established) of being “reactionary organizations in disguise” making workers intent on campaigning to establish independent unions fear being fired or persecuted in many ways.
3. In addition, on the part of employees, since they have yet to realize the power of independent trade unions in protecting their interests (once established and operating in accordance with the law and with set objectives), workers are not enthusiastic to learn about and push for the formation of independent unions.
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