Contents
INTRODUCTION 1
THIS REPORT, AT A GLANCE 1
VGCL’S LEADERSHIP AND ROLES 2
WHAT VGCL DOES AND WHAT IT DOES NOT DO 3
IS VGCL LIKELY TO EVOLVE TO BECOME MORE LIKE A REAL UNION? 7
APPENDIX 1 – VGCL stationing officials at large factory to prevent strikes 8
APPENDIX 2 – Articles from VGCL’s Vietnamese-language website 11

1. INTRODUCTION
We report on our research into the nature and activities of VGCL, Vietnam General Confederation of Labor.

Our research is based mainly on our analysis of all the more than 140 articles that can be obtained in relevant Sections on the Vietnamese-language side of VGCL’s extensive website. The 19-page Appendix 2 contains these articles and our summaries.

2. THIS REPORT, AT A GLANCE
Although calling itself a union confederation, VGCL and all “unions” under it bear little resemblance to many unions elsewhere. It tries to prevent workers taking industrial disputes and promptly attempts to resolve disputes as soon as they occur. Many of its activities are about receiving and implementing directives from the ruling party and its organs, namely the government, National Assembly, and the Fatherland Front. The key directive is the Communist Party Central Committee’s Directive 20/NQ-TW on mobilising and organising workers. VGCL also gives many awards to honor good workers, helps some poor workers obtain housing, and runs societal programs such as promoting traffic safety.

While VGCL has been frank and open about its role in preventing and resolving industrial disputes, some strike leaders suspect that VGCL officials quietly cooperate with the police to hunt them down. In our research, we found a VGCL report in which VGCL President asked the Security Ministry to arrest and punish strike leaders (see 32 in Appendix 2).

Over the years, in private discussions with some overseas unions, VGCL representatives have said that there are progressive officials within VGCL, and that it would change. Will it become a union in the usual sense of the term? We have found little evidence for, and much evidence against this.

For a brief look at Vietnam’s labor situation, see these quotes below from VGCL website’s interview with Dr. Đặng Quang Điều, head of the Factory Workers and Union Institute (see 37 in Appendix 2). See also the Institute’s research paper at 55 in Appendix 2):

“According to reports from VGCL unions, in the first 6 months of 2011, in 23 provinces there were 440 strikes, a 3-fold increase compared with 2010, of which 81% are in FDI enterprises…. FDI enterprises’ claim that Vietnam’s wages are high is baseless. The average wage in the ASEAN region is 0.76USD/hr, in our country is 0.2USD/hr and the highest among FDI enterprises is 0.42USD/hr. This shows Vietnam’s wages are low by regional and world standards. And workers are double-hit with high inflation at 11.7%, much higher compared to countries in the regions…. The reality is that workers’ wages are very low, meeting only 60-70% of their minimum living needs…. In reality, wages of most enterprise-union officials are paid by enterprises, they do not want to protect workers lest that directly impacts on their job….”

3. VGCL’S LEADERSHIP AND ROLES
VGCL leadership
All of VGCL’s top leaders, all leaders of unions under it, and all union officials at all geographical levels (communes, district, province) and at enterprise or industrial zone levels, are Communist Party officials.
Just as with many other organs of society, there is a Communist Party Branch within VGCL, headed by one of the Vice Presidents, Mr Nguyễn Hoà Bình (see 6 in Appendix 2).

VGCL roles
VGCL’s role includes “responsibility to implement the Party’s directions and policies and to contribute to the Party’s development”, including introducing new people to be admitted as party members. It is under the oversight of the Communist Party: “The Party oversights the way VGCL implements the Party’s directions and policies”.

The above quotes are from an extensive, 144-paragraph section in the Our Roles And Missions link on VGCL’s website. On its English site, only 6 paragraphs remain, they do not contain such details.

4. WHAT VGCL DOES AND WHAT IT DOES NOT DO
What VGCL does
Externally, VGCL manages labor-related foreign relations. This includes:

· Liaising with international union bodies. Our information is that VGCL has made informal inquiries about affiliating with ITUC . So far, one of VGCL’s unions, VUIT, has succeeded in being affiliated with a global union federation, the IMF;
· Receiving labor-related overseas aid and cooperation, such as asbestos-related aid from Australia’s Union Aid Abroad APHEDA, seafarers’ training from Japan’s RENGO (see 68 in Appendix 2), etc. Oxfam recently ran a seminar on living wages calculation methodology (see 52 in Appendix 2);
· Liaising with the ILO. VGCL helps run the ILO Better Work Vietnam project. ILO Vietnam manager Rie Vejs Kjeldgaard was recently presented with an award and reportedly said “Vietnamese unions at all levels always protect workers’ rights and entitlements, stand with them, represent and speak for workers” (see 2 in Appendix 2. See footnote for our comments);
· VGCL has hosted several labor-related international conferences, including a previous and a forthcoming union conference linked to ASEM (see 1 in Appendix 2).

Internally, VGCL is focussed on liaising with and implementing directives from the Communist Party and its organs. Each year, it holds many conferences, seminars, and meetings to promulgate the directives, plan their implementation, and review progress. These activities include:

· Prevent strikes. VGCL runs lunch-time meetings at large companies in restive provinces to warn workers against going on strike. State media do not document these meetings, but workers in Binh Duong told us about one such meeting in early 2011. At the Textile & Garments Union’s Hanoi conference in September 2011, a VGCL Vice President gave it a top award for, among other things, “building stable and harmonious industrial relations” (see 70 in Appendix 2). At the large 66,000-strong Pou Yuen shoe factory, in October 2009 VGCL’s newspaper Lao Dong reported that VGCL stationed some 675 officials throughout the floor and “Thanks to the omnipresent web of cadres, which discovers workers’ grievances in a timely manner to deal with them, for many years there have not been massive labor conflicts.”. This news item can no longer be found on Lao Dong website, but in Appendix 1, we provide its full text and our translation;
· Urgently resolve strikes once they have started. In his report to the Fatherland Front’s Central Committee Secretary, VGCL Vice President Nguyễn Hoà Bình (who also leads the Party’s VGCL Branch) reported that VGCL had “Resolved industrial disputes” (see 8 in Appendix 2). VGCL’s Lao Dong newspaper reported in July 2011 that the President of VGCL unions in Binh Duong industrial zones said “[W]hile previously employers tended to cooperate when his union officials and relevant authorities came to resolve strikes, these days some have not cooperated. Some do so because they wanted to use the strike as an excuse to sack all workers, close down the business, avoid creditors, and avoid paying tax” (see 61 in Appendix 2);
· Reporting to the Party’s Fatherland Front, which oversees all mass organisations. At a September 2011 meeting with the Fatherland Front head, VGCL reported on its activities, which included “[We have] resolved industrial disputes .. [A]ctively implemented the Party’s policies” (see 8 in Appendix 2);
· Public statements at the National Assembly. VGCL President said in July that “As a National Assembly Member, I have asked the Government to urgently raise the minimum wages, or face an increase in strikes and explosive reaction by workers in industrial zones. Factory workers typically get 96 – 144 USD/month, while VGCL’s own estimates are that they need 144 USD/mth or more to live on. These wages include not just the basic wage but also many supplements, therefore if they take a day off, the withdrawal of supplements plus penalties can halve their wages” (see 59 in Appendix 2);
· Lobby with the top echelons of the ruling party. At a meeting with the National Assembly President, one of the party’s top 3 men, VGCL President presented him with a report reviewing 3 years of VGCL’s implementation of the Party Central Committee’s Directive on labor mobilisation. The report then raised an extensive list of requests, most notable is Request No. 13 (see 32 in Appendix 2):
“We request that the Public Security Ministry, and city and provincial police forces work to unearth and punish the gangs of ‘underground thugs’ who provoke workers to strike” (Our emphasis).

The list also includes requests about: Maintaining VGCL monopoly by ensuring that the Labor Act does not allow formation of non-VGCL unions and provincial authorities cannot encroach on VGCL’s operations and finances in FDI and private enterprises; Processes of selecting officials and coordinating with various Party and government organs; Youth Union; Laws on paid time off for union training courses; Laws on workers’ compulsory insurance schemes; Separate minimum wages for factory workers from other types of workers and raise the former’s to prevent strike; Fund VGCL’s new headquarters and museum; New law to forbid landlords raising rental prices for factory workers; Require large factories to build accommodation for their workers; Set prescribed retirement age for female factory workers at 50, and at 45-50 for those in garment and seafood industries;
· Promulgate and implement the Party Central Executive Directive on labor mobilisation plus other directives from the government or National Assembly. These include: Conferences to explain the draft Labor Act and the draft Union Act (see 3 in Appendix 2); Training courses for VGCL officials (see 4, 7, 9 in Appendix 2); Conferences with VGCL’s direct-report union bodies to review Directive work programs (see 10 in Appendix 2); Monitoring relevant activities in the National Assembly (see 17, 42 in Appendix 2); Directive-related work at VGCL’s direct-report union bodies (see 25, 26, 29, 30, 67 in Appendix 2); Conferences to promulgate Party Congress decisions to 900 top VGCL officials (see 45 in Appendix 2); Political education of union officials and others (see 29 in Appendix 2); Government guidelines on training government officials (see 38 in Appendix 2); Reviews by VGCL performance by the National Assembly President, with endorsement and comments by Party’s Central Office (see 43 in Appendix 2); Train technical and apprenticeship trainers (see 54 in Appendix 2); And various assorted activities (see 73, 74, 75, 77, 79, 87 in Appendix 2);
· Seminars and numerous awards on gender equality and mobilising women workers in implementing the Party’s Directive (see 8, 15, 20, 63, 64, 65, 66, 69, 78 in Appendix 2). For example, in 69, VGCL’s Women Workers Team reported the State bank union as saying at its September 2011 conference that “The task of encouraging female workers to contribute to the nation’s industrialisation has progressed well. Workers have been trained in technical matters as well as being given political education”;
Behind VGCL Vice President Nguyễn Thị Thu Hồng is VGCL’s “Serve country, serve family” slogan for one of its competitions for women workers
· Housing and microloan programs for poor workers. (See 16, 18, 19, 31, 41, 44, 48, 56 in Appendix 2);
· Complaining about employers pocketing premiums for workers’ compulsory insurance schemes. (See 12, 40, 51, 58, 72 in Appendix 2);
· Competitions and awards on traffic safety. (See 24, 28, 71 in Appendix 2). Many of these competitions are quite involved, with the competing teams using elaborate stage musicals to entertain judges and audiences;
· Elections for National Assembly and People’s Committees at various levels: Some VGCL officials are selected by the Party to be elected, and VGCL implements a mobilisation program to ensure high turnout (see 46, 47 in Appendix 2);
· VGCL’s Lao Dong (Labor) newspaper’s Jobs Expos (see 50 in Appendix 2).

What VGCL does not do
VGCL does not approve of any industrial action and has not initiated any. Its top officials are on record as denouncing strike organisers, ranging from being foolish to provocateurs, and calling for them to be punished. Although some Union Institute scholars or mid-ranked VGCL officials have publicly said that struggling workers had no choice but to strike, VGCL has never organised any strike, go-slow, work bans. None of the many strikes reported on state media, and the unreported ones we are aware of, have been organised by VGCL.

5. IS VGCL LIKELY TO EVOLVE TO BECOME MORE LIKE A REAL UNION?
Genuine yearning, or scripted charm offensive?We are aware of 3 separate instances where high- or mid-ranked VGCL officials confided in foreign union officials that they were unhappy about being state-run, and that there is a significant minority of progressive officials within VGCL hoping to evolve VGCL into a real union. One instance involved Vietnamese union officials saying so on their visit hosted by a friendly Australian union, several years ago. Another involved VGCL officials saying so to a visiting Asian representative of a global union federation recently. And an ITUC worker recounted being told so when we learned that VGCL had informally made enquiries about becoming an ITUC-Asia Pacific affiliate.

Are the above instances separate or part of a scripted charm offensive? Taking the professed sentiments at face value, we think the likelihood of VGCL evolving to become a real union is low.
VGCL likely to change only if and when the whole regime does.

An analysis of the push (by workers) and pull (by progressive, closeted officials) factors, and of the power imbalances (the ruled’s versus the rulers’ strengths) supports the above assessment. Both factors are too weak to cause change against the backdrop of the huge power imbalance.

An analysis of motives leads to the same conclusion. The ruling party fears that with independent unions foreign investment would drop and, with it, the party’s huge financial profits arising from land sales, permits, taxes, etc. Also, the experience of Poland’s Solidarity is noted by Vietnam’s rulers, who closely study regime changes around the world to learn avoidance lessons.

A micro-analysis of stakeholders also leads to the same conclusion. The Party’s VGCL Branch would not allow it because there is nothing to gain and everything to lose. The powerful Security Ministry would not allow it because it complicates its task. Provincial People’s Committees would rather get a piece of the pie by controlling some of VGCL’s finances (eg. in FDI companies) than see VGCL advocate for workers’ interests. And so on.

Analyses such as the above can always be counteracted by arguments such as “But Burma also looked hopeless”, or “This is now, but who knows what will be”.

The strongest reason for our assessment is that VGCL officials’ private confessions have been expressed for many years. As far as the old ones are concerned, their predictions for the future (ie. the past several years) have not played out, VGCL has not changed at all. We therefore see no reason to be more optimistic about recent ones.

VGCL, like the Communist Party that formed and runs it, has been successful at maintaining its power and stability. Despite decades of huge underlying pressure from millions of people working exhausting hours for subsistence wages and complaining daily of their miserable lot, VGCL has not evolved to distance itself from the ruling party or work for workers’ industrial interests.

VGCL is so intricately interwoven into the web of interests, power and money behind Vietnam’s power structure that it can change only when the whole web changes.

APPENDIX 1
VGCL stationing officials at large factory to prevent strikes
This Appendix is referred to on page 4 of the report, SubSection “What VGCL does”.

Below is the October 2009 news item on VGCL’s Lao Dong newspaper about a strike at a Pouyen plant, disclosing that it has 675 people on the factory floor to prevent strikes, with our English translation. The paragraph mentioning the number of VGCL officials is highlighted in yellow.

See the end Notes about the original item’s disappearance from Lao Dong and our search for it.
600+ Pouyen workers at Pouyen Vietnam Pty Ltd Ho Chi Minh City stopped work to demand production bonusLao Dong no. 228 09/10/2009 Updated: 8:17 AM, 09/10/2009 Pouyen Vietnam workers queuing to get paid!(LD) – On the morning of 8 October, at the Pouyen Vietnam Pty Ltd (100% Taiwan owned, specialising in export shoes at D10/89Q National highway 1A, Tan Tao, District Binh Tan, Ho Chi Minh City), more than 600 workers at the assembly plant A5 stopped work when they discovered that their pay slip did not include the production bonus (ranging from 81,000 to 108,000 dong/month). Pouyen manufactures sports shoes bearing major brands such as Adidas, Reebok, Nike, Puma. This is also the company with the largest number of workers compared to companies nationwide: The number of workers at the company itself is 66,000 (of whom 90% are migrant workers), then there are about 13,000 workers at satellite companies supplying parts and accessories to Pouyen.About the union’s manpower, presently the number of workplace cadres at the Pouyen company has reached 675, located in every production team, supervising the 47,000 union members among the 66,000 workers. Thanks to the omnipresent web of cadres, which discovers workers’ grievances in a timely manner to deal with them, for many years there have not been massive labor conflicts.However, on 17 September, at the Hoa Cong C3 factory, more than 500 workers self-organised a stopwork to demand an increase in the shift allowance and the way production targets are set. According to workers, because the targets are too high, workers must work an extra 4 hours a day just to meet them. Those who do not meet the targets have their wage deducted. Furthermore, the company’s calculation of bonuses do not accord with the extra hours that workers work. This stopwork lasted until 20.9 and workers’ requests have been resolved. The stopwork on the morning of 8.10 by 600 workers at the assembly plant A5 (specialising in Puma shoes) was for a similar reason, with workers saying: Up to 8.2009, if a production line achieved 1,600 pairs of shoes/month then each worker got a production bonus of 81,000-108, 000 each. But in September 2009, suddenly the company not only stopped this bonus but also unilaterally increased the target to 2,000 pairs/line. Because the target before that had already been so demanding, workers already had had to work from 6 am (instead of 7 am) to 7 pm instead of 6 pm to meet the target, without getting overtime payment for those 2 hours, so [with this even higher target] workers must fight back.

Mr. Trần Vĩnh Hoà, Human Resources head, said: Once workers have got used to the new [shoe] designs, the company will gradually increase the target to 2,400 then 2,700 pairs/line/month. Workers already stopped work when it was increased to 2,000 pairs/month.At the Pouyen Vietnam Pty Ltd, we saw that after receiving the credit cards, thousands of workers queued up, this shows the very heavy financial pressure on them. Payslips show that the average total pay packet was about 1.6 million dong/month (including overtime for working 70 hours).At 12.30pm on the same day, the company announced that it agreed to pay production bonuses ranging from 80,000 to 100,000 dong, to be paid in the October 2009 pay packet, and to keep the production target at 1,600 pairs/line/month. Those who returned to work that afternoon would get the whole day’s pay.However, workers did not accept this and asked: “Why is it that other plants get production bonuses from 200,000 to 300,000 dong/month and you give us such a low offer?”, then they went home. At 16 hours on the same day, the company relented and set the production bonus to 100,000 dong for everyone and to pay the day’s full pay to everyone, to be paid on 15 October.According to economists, Pouyen Vietnam is showing instabilities because its wages are too low, the “pacifying” techniques used to date don’t seem to be effective anymore because they cannot make up for the money shortfall in workers’ [daily] lives.

Note on disappearance of this article from Lao Dong’s website: We first found it in October 2009 as part of our regular sweep and archiving of labor news from Vietnam’s state-run media. Despite an exhaustive search, we are now unable to find the original news item on the Lao Dong Online website.

· A search using http://laodong.com.vn’s search box did not turn up this item. In particular, after fruitlessly searching using phrases, we searched using a single search term (“675”), the search turned up 209 URLs, none of which was this news item;
· Lao Dong’s website laodong.com.vn does not allow browsing to previous publication dates;
· A Google search on 01/9/2011 did not turn up this item at Lao Dong, but at another news site which quoted the source as Lao Dong;
· A search at the Internet Archive Wayback Machine found nothing because in October 2009, the Archive scanned this site only twice, on the 3rd and 7th October, before this news item was uploaded.

APPENDIX 2
Articles from VGCL’s Vietnamese-language website

We found these 140+ articles tedious to read because of “officialese”, but our method explained below removes the tedium for the reader. We hope the reader would browse some of the headings and highlighted texts to gain a deeper understanding. For example, 36 reported Vietnam’s Prime Minister as wanting high overtime limits – something foreign investors have been urging, 12 explains the problem with compulsory workers’ insurance schemes, and 49 is a frank admission about bribery.

How to use this Appendix
This Appendix is referred to throughout the report. It contains the full text, in Vietnamese, of each article we can find – 80,000 words in more than 140 articles. Although we read each article, providing a full translation here is not practical and probably not necessary. We therefore do it this way:
The “Section” headings are the link texts on VGCL’s website, in both English and Vietnamese.

SECTION – VGCL activities
1. VGCL’s meeting with Friedrich Ebert (FES), German union council about organising union conference before ASEM 2012 meeting.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=4&m=5403

2. Award ceremony to honor head of ILO Vietnam office. Ms. Rie Vejs Kjeldgaard was quoted as saying “Vietnamese unions at all levels always protect workers rights and entitlements, stand with them, represent and speak for workers”.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l2=1&c=22&c2=22&m=5410

3. VGCL conference in Hanoi on the draft unions bill and labor bill. 2 VGCL Vice-Presidents explain the union bill’s main features and on the labor bill’s more noteworthy features.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=22&m=5409

4. Opening ceremony for conference on training of VGCL officials. A highlight of the program will be to be debriefed about the Communist Party XI Congress. Also, a program was launched to seek donation from workers for charity purposes by texting to their mobiles.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=22&m=5370

5. National seminar on housing for migrant workers. Vietnam News Agency reported that the conference, held jointly with ministries, talked about statistics and various needs, such as the need for town planning and funding. However, the report did not say whether any decision or program eventuated.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l2=1&c=229&c2=229&m=5391

6. Talk on gender equality. It was attended by, among others, “comrade Nguyen Hoa Binh, VGCL Vice President and Secretary of Communist Party’s VGCL Branch”.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=22&m=5385

7. Meeting of working group to draft training manual for enterprise-based unions.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=22&m=5380

8. Meeting between Communist Party’s Fatherland Front’s Central Committee Secretary with VGCL leadership. VGCL leaders reported on VGCL’s activities, which included “Resolved industrial disputes…. [A]ctively implemented the Party’s policies” and raised issues which VGCL asked Fatherland Front to bring up the line to the Party’s leadership.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=22&m=5355

9. VGCL University opens union administration class for 80 union officials.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=22&m=5344

10. Quarterly conference of union bodies reporting to VGCL.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=22&m=5338

11. Opening ceremony of union museum in Tuyen Quang province. “Nearly 60 years ago, the VGCL formulated several important policies to mobilise workers to unite and increase productions for the war effort”.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=22&m=5302

12. VGCL meeting with the state’s workers compulsory insurance body (BHXH). BHXH reported that in the first 6 months of 2011, employers paid BHXH 1.4 million USD in insurance for 9.6 million workers. These represent only 65% of eligible workers, because many employers make deductions from wages but pocket the money. Causes of this problem include: The law’s monetary penalties are well below bank’s interest rate, and BHXH does not have its own inspectors. Further, banks do not transfer money from employers’ accounts with them to BHXH, despite an agreement between BHXH and the State Bank to do so. VGCL and BHXH heads agreed with each other that in the future they need to work more closely together to deal with this problem.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=22&m=5297

13. VGCL Conference. Discussed options for using VGCL’s charity funds, and pay scales for certain classes of union officials.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=22&m=5296

14. Visit to Tuyen Quang province by a VGCL Vice President. Nguyen Thi Thu Hong proposed a new name “Tuyen Quang Government Officials Union” for a local union, and gave 240 USD to a local school.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=22&m=5281

15. VGCL and Women’s Union: Review of 3-year cooperation agreement. Activities included “Serve country, serve family” competitions, gender equality education.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=22&m=5266

16. Conference reviewing 5-year program of helping workers on housing. A total of 21 million USD was raised from various sources.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=22&m=5246

17. VGCL head debriefs VGCL on first term of Communist Party’s XIII National Assembly. “The process of nominating people for Ministry positions has been detailed so that Assembly members can democratically elect them and express the Assembly’s confidence in them”, and “National Assembly is expected to pass the new Labor and Union Acts in May 2012”.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=22&m=5243

SECTION – Local VGCL news
18. Tra Vinh VGCL increases to 960 USD per house for subsidised housing.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l2=1&c=227&c2=227&m=5399

19. Khanh Hoa VGCL housing fund manage hands over 16 houses to poor workers.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=227&m=5400

20. Ceremony to honor employers who employ many female workers. This is part of Entrepreneurs Day.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=227&m=5368

21. Ceremony commemorating 25th year of Union sports building.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=227&m=5366

22. Thanh Hoa VGCL’s ceremony marking 65 years. “Since then [1946], Thanh Hoa VGCL has carried out the role given to it by the [Communist] Party”. “Moving forward, we are to maintain unity and focus on programs such as ‘Work better’, ‘Be creative at work’”.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=227&m=5365

23. Da Nang VGCL’s meeting between enterprise-based unions. To improve its effectiveness, “many present agreed that the unions need to work closely with the government in all aspects of their work”.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=227&m=5361

24. Vinh Long VGCL’s competition on promulgating traffic laws for road, rail, aid and sea traffic. Competing teams included unions and they not just debated but also “wrote songs or poems”, and performed “lavish” shows, including the “’Drive with all your heart’ show by the Health Services Union”.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=227&m=5360

25. Tra Vinh VGCL actively promulgates laws to workers. “Workers face difficulties because wages are low, pressure at work is high, therefore we need to focus even more on educating them about laws such as Union Law, Labor Law. Doing so, we aim to prevent industrial disputes, resolve them, and thus build a harmonious and stable industrial relations”.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=227&m=5356

26. Hanoi VGCL’s conference reviewing 3 years of implementing the Resolution 20-NQ/TW of the Communist Party’s Central Executive. VGCL reported that “Immediately after the Resolution, we put into place an implementation program which has been promulgated to 100% of union officials”. Attending the conference, a top official from the Communist Party’s Hanoi branch urged the Hanoi VGCL to “work harder on educating workers on the Party’s directions”.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=227&m=5345

27. Khanh Hoa VGCL’c ceremony commemorating 66 years of union participation in the revolution. “We need to push harder on propaganda to workers about the revolution”.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=227&m=5341

28. VGCL Vice President visited Thai Nguyen to review progress on traffic safety. “He emphasised the need to push harder in educating workers to obey traffic laws”.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=227&m=5340

29. Thai Nguyen VGCL’s conference on Education Union’s activities. “We have closely cooperated to raise union officials’ and lecturers’ political education”, and “we have actively taken part in contributing to the Party’s development”.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=227&m=5336

30. Conference and signing of 5-year Coopeation Agreement between Hanoi VGCL and Hanoi Communist Party Branch. “During the last 3-year Cooperation Agreement period, we have worked hard to organise competitions to raise workers’ effectiveness and creativity, to help employers to better compete”.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=227&m=5332

31. Hai Duong VGCL reviewed its implementation of the microloan fund. “Up to August 2011, we have given 28 loans worth 48,000 USD to help 135 workers”.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=227&m=5328

32. VGCL Executive Committee’s comprehensive list of requests to the Party, government, and National Assembly. At the end of this report, request number 13 says “We propose that the Public Security Ministry, and city and provincial police forces work to unearth and punish the gangs of ‘underground thugs’ who provoke workers to strike”. The list also includes requests about: Maintaining VGCL monopoly; Processes of hiring officials and processes for coordination with various Party and government organs; Youth Union; Laws on paid time off for union training courses; Laws on workers’ compulsory insurance schemes; Separate minimum wages for factory workers from other types of workers and raise the former’s to prevent strike; Fund VGCL’s new headquarters and museum; New law to forbid landlords raising rental prices for factory workers; Require large factories to build accommodation for their workers; Set prescribed retirement age for female factory workers at 50, and at 45-50 for those in garment and seafood industries.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=248&m=5074

SECTION – Politics, society
33. VGCL attends conference organised by the Government’s Council for Simplifying Government Procedures.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l2=1&c=228&c2=228&m=5392

34. Opening ceremony of the XIII National Assembly.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=228&m=5390

35. Vice President, Deputy Labor Minister, and VGCL President visited Binh Duong. “enterprise unions told the dignitaries that given the hyper-inflation, workers are miserable, and to unite workers the unions need more funding”
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=228&m=5376

36. Conference to hear government’s comments on 9 draft laws. “In relation to [the revised Labor Law] prescribing a limit on overtime hours worked, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung commented that this should be flexible so that workers who have the necessary endurance and the need to make ends meet can work longer hours. In relation to the draft proposal to increase pregnant workers’ leave, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung commented that the law should be flexible so that if the women need to make ends meet they can come back to work earlier.”
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=228&m=5334

37. VGCL website interviewed head of Factory Workers and Union Institute. Dang Quang Dieu said “According to reports from VGCL unions, in the first 6 months of 2011, in 23 provinces there were 440 strikes, a 3-fold increase compared with 2010, of which 81% are in FDI enterprises .. FDI enterprises’ claim that Vietnam’s wages are high is baseless. The average wage in the ASEAN region is 0.76USD/hr, in our country is 0.2USD/hr and the highest among FDI enterprises is 0.42USD/hr. This shows Vietnam’s wages are low by regional and world standards. And workers are double-hit with high inflation at 11.7%, much higher compared to countries in the regions… The reality is that workers’ wages are very low, meeting only 60-70% of their minimum living needs… In reality, wages of most enterprise-union officials are paid by enterprises, they do not want to protect workers lest that directly impacts on their job… To address these problems, first, we need to form more enterprise unions and VGCL needs to educate and train them. Second, there needs to be a [government-prescribed] regime for job protection and for giving special benefits to union officials.”
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=228&m=5309

38. Prime Minister signed Decision 1374/QD-TTG on training and development of government officials for the period 2011-2015.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=228&m=5256

39. 260 new industrial areas formed during this year’s first 6 months.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=228&m=5255

40. Trial of first cooperation agreement between the tax office and the Ho Chi Minh City office of BHXH (compulsory workers’ insurance). Every 6 months, the 2 agencies will meet to coordinate. “In response to BHXH’s question about why there are 120,000 businesses but only 80,000 pay the insurance fee, VGCL Ho Chi Minh Vice President explained that many are family businesses or shell companies and therefore it’d be unfair to accuse the tax office and VGCL of not ensuring that they pay their due.”
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=228&m=5238

41. 42 housing projects will start in the second half of 2011.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=228&m=5204

42. First working session of the XIII National Assembly begun. “The National Assembly will set out 11 days out of its 14.5 working days for the process of electing top office holders such as President, Prime Minister, National Assembly leaders.”
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=228&m=5183

43. Report by Communist Party’s Central Office on National Assembly President’s Review of VGCL’s implementation of the Party Central Executive’s Resolution no. 20-NQ/TW on union matters. Over the past 3 years, VGCL has worked hard to implement the Party’s Resolution, but there is work to be done.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=228&m=5144

44. Ho Chi Minh City’s People Committee aims to meet 50% of workers’ accommodation needs in 2015.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=228&m=5089

45. Seminar to promulgate the XI Party Congress’ decisions to VGCL officials. More than 900 VGCL officials attended, including 20 from the Party’s VGCL Branch.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=228&m=5023

46. Da Nang VGCL actively works to urge workers to vote in forthcoming national elections. “Ms Lan, a worker, said ‘Thanks to the enterprise union promulgating news about the election, after a hard days’ work I and fellow workers eagerly attended to learn about the elections, and I now understand better about my rights and responsibility regarding the elections.”
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=228&m=5012

47. Many VGCL officials are nominated by the Party for election to the National Assembly and People’s Committees at various levels.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=228&m=5008

SECTION – Workers, jobs, wages
48. National seminar on housing for migrant workers. Vietnam News Agency reported that the conference, held jointly with ministries, talked about statistics and various needs, such as the need for townplanning and funding. However, the report did not say whether any decision or program eventuated.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l2=1&c=229&c2=229&m=5391

49. Seminar organised by Interior Ministry and financed by UNDP on reform of government officials’ wages. Participants at the seminar in Hai Phong, including Party officials in various organs, agreed that low wages led to corruption: “therefore government officials use all means to land jobs involving dealing with citizens or enterprises so that they can take bribes” . This seminar is part of the process of finalising proposals to send to the Party’s Central Committee next April.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=229&m=5347

50. Jobs expo in Hanoi. Organised a few times a year by VGCL’s Labor newspaper, this year 68 enterprises took part, with 1520 positions to be filled.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=229&m=5346

51. Hanoi-based enterprises fail to pay 43 million USD in compulsory workers’ insurance.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=229&m=5335

52. Seminar organised by Oxfam England on living-wages methodology. ILO, enterprise, and government officials attended. “Living wage is a new concept which to date has not been fully defined.”
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=229&m=5329

53. Seminar on wages and unionism in the textile & garment industry. This is the first cooperation between VGCL and Asia Floor Wage Alliance. Attendees included AFWA, Labor Ministry, and VGCL as well as textile union officials.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=229&m=5287

54. VGCL training for technical education and apprenticeship trainers. “During 2010-2011, VGCL’s network of 42 training centres have trained 54,405 people.”
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=229&m=5284

55. Research article on minimum wages by an official at the Factory Workers & Union Institute. “In our country, the minimum wages are only 19-26 cents USD/hr, which is 1/20 of EU’s and 1/3 of many SouthEast Asian countries.”… “The minimum wages can cover only 36-55% of the minimum required for living.”… “In the same industry and the same geographical area, profitable state-owned enterprised pay 2-3 times the wages of FDI and private enterprises.”… “Foreign expatriates get much higher pay than domestic workers at the same companies.”
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=229&m=5262

56. VGCL President visits workers’ quarters being built by Phu My company.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=229&m=5259

57. Multi-ministry meeting regarding proposed adjustiments to minimum wages. Vice Minister Pham Minh Huan said “This time, we propose to prescribe the amount of money that employers must pay for each meal, at 0.72 cents USD.”
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=229&m=5250

58. Report by Labor Ministry on Unemployment Insurance scheme. 7 million workers have paid into the scheme, representing 75% of all who ought to. In the first 6 months of 2011, in Ho Chi Minh city 30,345 persons applied for unemployment payments.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=229&m=5203

59. VGCL President attended Da Nang VGCL’s 14th Conference. Dang Ngoc Tung said “As a National Assembly Member, I have asked the Government to urgently raise the minimum wages, or face an increase in strikes and explosive reaction by workers in industrial zones. Factory workers typically get 96 – 144 USD/month, while VGCL’s own estimates are that they need 144 USD/mth or more to live on.

These wages include not just the basic wage but also many supplements, therefore if they take a day off, the withdrawal of supplements plus penalties can halve their wages”. The president of VGCL’s group of Da Nang industrial zones unions expressed frustration that “There has been much talk over the years but no action, leading to low wages and resultant lack of trust in my unions.”
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=229&m=5191

60. Analysis article on VGCL’s Lao Dong newspaper: Low allowance for meals leads to food poisoning. Author Vo Tuan (probably a reporter or columnist) opines that because companies allocate only 38-38 cents USD per worker per meal, it is inevitable that chefs buy unhealthy ingredients.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=229&m=5170

61. Meeting between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committees about workers’ issues. “Strikes used to concentrate during special periods such as Tet or when the minimum wages were adjusted, but now they take place any time” .. “Most of the time, when a strike occurs, VGCL has taken the lead and coordinated with relevant authorities to resolve them. But recently a number of strikes in Ho Chi Minh, Dong Nai, Binh Duong have seen the phenomenon of provocateur (including some who are not workers)” .. “Mr Bui Thanh Nhan, President of VGCL unions in the Binh Duong industrial zones, said that that while previously employers tended to cooperate when his union officials and relevant authorities came to resolve strikes, these days some have not cooperated. Some do so because they wanted to use the strike as an excuse to sack all workers, close down the business, avoid creditors, and avoid paying tax. A worrying phenomenon is that of several employers jointly setting wages, thus workers cannot find higher-wages alternative employers.”
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=229&m=5169

62. Ho Chi Minh People’s Committee submitted proposal to Prime Minister on closed-down businesses. Under existing laws, when a business closes down or the owners flee to avoid paying creditors and workers, the People’s Committee must lock up, guard and administer the properties they leave behind. But in several cited cases, the cost of doing so far outweighs the properties’ value. The proposal aims to minimise their cost and give workers high priority among creditors.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=229&m=5165

SECTION – News From union federations and major company unions
63. Agriculture union’s Women’s Day ceremony on gender equality.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l2=1&c=26&c2=26&m=5397

64. Petrol company union’s seminar on women’s role in Vietnam’s industrialisation.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=26&m=5388

65. Education union’s conference on gender equality.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=26&m=5372

66. Education union’s ceremony to honor excellent female teachers and students.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=26&m=5371

67. Building union’s meeting on promulgating directives by government and Party.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=26&m=5351

68. VGCL Vice President and Japanese RENGO representative present awards to graduates. “As part of this cooperation between Vietnam and Japan, since December 1998 there have been 1388 graduates from 28 training courses, raising sailors’ technical capacity.”
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=26&m=5349

69. State bank union’s conference to review women’s issues. “The task of encouraging female workers to contribute to the nation’s industrialisation has progressed well. Workers have been trained in technical matters as well as being given political education.”
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=26&m=5348

70. Textile & garments union’s ceremony marking 15 years anniversary. VGCL Vice President praised the union for “building stable and harmonious industrial relations”, and “the government awarded the union a high award.”
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=26&m=5323

71. Shipping industry union’s competition on implementing VGCL’s policy on traffic safety measures.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=26&m=5298
Ảnh: Đ/c Nguyễn Văn Tích – Phó chủ tịch thường trực Công đoàn CNTT Việt Nam, trao giải nhất toàn đoàn cho Đoàn 1 Công đoàn Tổng công ty CNTT Nam Triệu.

72. Union seminar on promulgating policies about workers’ health and unemployment insurance schemes.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=26&m=5294

73. Postal union’s Conference. The conference heard about results from various competitions to mobilise union officials and workers, and formalised personnel changes in the union leadership,
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=26&m=5282

74. Education union’s 3-day training seminar for 300 of its officials.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=26&m=5265

75. Postal union’s Traditional Day. Participants interacted with former workers who, facing the difficult environments they worked in, found ways to overcome them, and thus are examples for today’s workers.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=26&m=5244

76. Postal and telecommunications union’s burial ceremony for remains of 7 postal workers who died during wars.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=26&m=5205

77. Shipping unions’ conference reviewing its implementation of the 2008 Communist Party Congress’ decisions on unions. As part of its duty to find suitable members for the Party, since the Congress, the union has nominated 833 workers, of which 576 have been admitted as Party members.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=26&m=5186

78. Agriculture union’s ceremony commemorating Women’s Day.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l2=1&c=26&c2=26&m=5397

SECTION – Newly released official documents
79. VGCL’s document promulgating National Assembly President’s decisions on union matters.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l2=1&c=225&c2=225&m=5325

80. Prime Minister’s Decision no. 70/ND-CP on minimum wages.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=225&m=5285
The document sets out matters such as: The 22 types of VGCL documents; Archival requirements; The 4 types of reports and which ones may be sent electronically; Paper and font sizes.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=225&m=5273

81. Party Central Committee’s document on salary supplements.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=225&m=5252

82. Prime Minister’s Decision 57/2001/NĐ-CP on allowances.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=225&m=5251

83. VGCL document 1049/HD-TLĐ on salaries and allowances for union officials in non-government sector.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=225&m=5162

84. Prime Minister’s Decision 54/2011/NĐ-CP on allowances for long-serving teachers.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=225&m=5143

85. Government Decision 34/2011/NĐ-CP on disciplinary measures for public officials.

86. Finance Minister’s Decision 92/2001/TT-BTC on assistance to workers at state companies.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=225&m=5103

87. VGCL’s Guideline 649/HD-TLĐ on unions’ competition programs.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=225&m=5022

88. Labor Ministry’s Decision 12/2001/TT-BLĐTBXH on state companies.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=225&m=4933

89. VGCL document 1049/HD-TLĐ on temporary arrangements on salaries and allowances for union officials in non-government sector.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=225&m=4928

90. VGCL’s Guideline 549/TLĐ on allowances for union officials.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=225&m=4900

91. VGCL’s Guideline 567/TLĐ on union libraries.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=225&m=4899

92. Finance Ministry’s Decision 48/2011/TT-BTC on allowances for certain types of workers.
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/details.asp?l=1&c=225&m=4864

SECTION – Opinion and research articles
Most articles here are from the Factory Workers and Union Institute, containing interesting statistics and arguments. We have not provided summaries or quotes, because they are not official VGCL documents. However, the articles are here as insurance against loss and for future reference.

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Note: for technical reasons, this report has been shortened: some endnotes and quotes in the original Vietnamese, far more extensive than the English reference, have been left out. The full text can be obtained on request from the CPVW (protectVietworkers@gmail.com) or from the GLI (gli@iprolink.ch).

Published by the Committee To Protect Vietnamese Workers (CPVW)
Ul. Waryńskiego 3-00- Warszawa, Poland; Tel: +48 606 831 600
website: http://www.protectVietworkers.com e-mail: protectVietworkers@gmail.com
Enquiries: Mr. Trung Doan, Secretary, protectVietworkers@gmail.com