Vietnam: The Law on the Implementation of Democracy at Grassroots Level
The Democratic Regulation according to the Labour Code means provisions on rights and responsibilities of employees, employers, organization representing employees with contents that employer must publicize; employees are allowed to know, give opinion on, decide, inspect, and supervise and other forms of democratic implementation at workplaces. The concept of Democratic Regulation is first mentioned in the Labour Code 2012, detailed in Decree 60/2013/ND-CP which was replaced by Decree 149/2018/ND-CP with many progressive regulations such as: concretize the principle of implementing democracy, clearly stipulating responsibility of employer in issuance and implementation of the Democratic Regulation. That spirit is still inherited by the Labour Code 2019 and Decree 145/2020/ND-CP and it is promoted to ensure legitimate interest of employees, contribute to creating a healthy working environment, and avoid workplace negativity. 1
One of the contents of this law is "the People's Inspection Committee":
“The most important activity of the People's Inspection Committee in enterprises is to supervise the implementation of resolutions on the activities of enterprises.” 2
Any enterprise with 10 employees or more must promulgate a Democratic Regulation after consulting with organization representing employees at the enterprise and the representative group. If not, employers are imposed administrative penalties of up to VND20.000.000, and the legally binding documents relating to labor relation issued by employers will be affected. 3
The Law on the Implementation of Democracy at Grassroots Level
The National Assembly of Vietnam passed the Law on the Implementation of Democracy at Grassroots Level on November 10, 2022. The thing worth noting here is that it does not apply to private business. Back to the main issue, the reason given are:
“A private enterprise invests itself to build an enterprise with its own capital, independent of the State budget. Therefore, private enterprises have the right to decide corporate governance without having to consult employees.”
“Enterprises already have a trade union, an employee representative organization to represent the employees…Therefore, a new organization like the people's inspectorate with overlapping activities is a waste of costing and human resource consuming for trade unions and enterprises.
The provision and disclosure of all information of the enterprise, especially confidential information in corporate governance (production and business situation, operation situation, salary scale, payroll) to all employees, trade unions, and people's inspection boards are inappropriate, unjustified, contrary to the autonomy of enterprises under the Law on Investment, the Law on Enterprises, the Law on Intellectual Property and common sense.”
“If too much power is given to workers and people's inspection boards, which exceeds their legitimate interests, making it easy for employees to make claims, form factions, and cause interference for business owners.
Most businesses are following the law and take care of their employees very well, not only due to some isolated ones can generally apply this law to the whole business.” 4
“The most important activity of the People's Inspection Committee in enterprises is to supervise the implementation of resolutions on the activities of enterprises. But an employee who is only an employee cannot ask the business owner to provide documents, or supervise his boss's activities, because there is a risk of being laid off.” 5
According to the federations of labor of Quang Tri province:
“Enterprises have not paid attention to the development and implementation of Democratic Regulations and have not timely developed regulations and procedures for organizing employee conferences; delay in amending and supplementing the contents to conform to the provisions of current law; not interested in holding dialogue in the workplace or if the organization is still formal.”
“There are even enterprises in the implementation process that have deliberately not implemented, giving many reasons to avoid such as: due to production characteristics, unable to stop operating equipment and machinery; There are a lot of workers in the workshops, unable to gather, so it is difficult to hold dialogues, due to production to keep up with orders. Some businesses even avoid or are not interested in holding dialogues with employees.” 6
Notes:
1.Is It Necessary to Build Democracy Regulation at Enterprise?
https://phuoc-associates.com/is-it-necessary-to-build-democracy-regulation-at-enterprise/#_ftn3
(Pham Thanh Truc & Nguyen Huu Phuoc Esq. – Phuoc & Partners)
“Democratic regulation at the grassroots level at workplaces” (“Democratic Regulation”) is a relatively new phrase for majority of enterprises in Vietnam. The Democratic Regulation according to the Labour Code means provisions on rights and responsibilities of employees, employers, organization representing employees with contents that employer must publicize; employees are allowed to know, give opinion on, decide, inspect and supervise and other forms of democratic implementation at workplaces. The concept of Democratic Regulation is first mentioned in the Labour Code 2012, detailed in Decree 60/2013/ND-CP which was replaced by Decree 149/2018/ND-CP with many progressive regulations such as: concretize the principle of implementing democracy, clearly stipulating responsibility of employer in issuance and implementation of the Democratic Regulation. That spirit is still inherited by the Labour Code 2019 and Decree 145/2020/ND-CP and it is promoted to ensure legitimate interest of employees, contribute to creating a healthy working environment, and avoid workplace negativity.
With participation of many enterprises with diverse industries, the job market is increasingly bustling and highly competitive for both employees and employers. Recruiting high-quality human resources is always an expectation of enterprises, but after recruiting, retaining talent is another issue. In order to gain loyalty from employees, besides salary and labor welfare, a healthy and democratic working environment will be a key factor for employees to choose either to stay or join other enterprises. The Democratic Regulation is a necessary premise for employers to create a positive working environment for employees.
What are differences between Democratic Regulation, Internal Labour Regulation and Collective Employment Agreement?
Basically, Democratic Regulation, Internal Labour Regulation (“ILR”) and Collective Labour Agreement (“CLA”) are issued by employers and are applied within enterprises. The Democratic Regulation and ILR are issued, amended, and supplemented by the employer after consulting with the organization representing employees at the enterprise (if any), especially for the Democratic Regulation, employer needs to consult the representative group for completion and promulgation. In addition, unlike the Democratic Regulation and ILR, CLA is signed by representatives of the employees and the representatives of employer through collective bargaining (provided that more than 50% of the employees vote in favor). Furthermore, while ILR must be registered with a competent labor authority for validity, CLA just needs to be notified in writing to the competent labor authority. As for the Democratic Regulation, it is only necessary to consult with the organization representing employees at the enterprise and the representative group (if any).
Democratic Regulation, ILR and CLA all play different roles and support each other for the ultimate goal of creating a progressive, civilized and disciplined working environment at the workplace. Specifically, Democratic Regulation guarantees the right to know, give opinion on, decide, inspect and supervise a number of issues related to legitimate rights and interests of employees in accordance with the provisions of the labor law. For example, employees have the right to give opinions through the organization representing employees at the enterprise on the ILR promulgation and CLA signing. Meanwhile, ILR helps standardize behavior and relationship in the enterprise, and material responsibility for employees who violate labor discipline. A CLA is an agreement between employee collective and an employer on working conditions or/and labor welfare such as overtime salaries, bonuses, allowances, extra vacation days, etc. Currently, the law does not provide any specific provision for CLA but only requires that the CLA is not contrary to the provisions of the applicable law and at the same time encourages favorable terms for employees than the law.
Thus, Democratic Regulation plays a role of ensuring democratic rights of employees at the workplace; ILR stipulates the code of conduct that employees must comply with to ensure order at the workplace; and CLA is a bilateral agreement to improve welfares of employees. All three of these regulations are effective at enterprises, however, if ILR and CLA have overlapping scopes, employers are responsible for amending the ILR to be consistent with the CLA [1]. In addition, while the ILR and the Democratic Regulation are internal documents that must be obtained by enterprises with 10 employees or more, CLA is only an optional document in case both enterprise and employee collective consider it is necessary.
Is it mandatory to have Democratic Regulation at the workplace?
Decree 145/2020/ND-CP stipulates that any enterprise with 10 employees or more must promulgate a Democratic Regulation after consulting with organization representing employees at the enterprise and the representative group [2]. Thus, similar to the registration requirement for ILR, qualified enterprises have to promulgate a Democratic Regulation that clearly stipulate content and sequence of dialogues at the workplace, issues that employers have to publicize to employees and let the employees give their opinion on. Please note, in case an enterprise meets the conditions but refuses to promulgate and implement the Democratic Regulation, it may be subject to an administrative fine of up to VND6,000,000 according to Decree 28/2020/ND-CP [3]. In addition, any employee who detects violations of Democratic Regulation compliance will fully have the right to complain to employer to protect his or her legitimate right and interest. If an employee disagrees with decision on settlement of the first-time complaint, or after 30 days from the date of receipt of complaint but the first-time complaint has not been resolved yet, he or she has the right to file a second-time complaint to the Chief Inspector of the Department of Labour – War Invalids and Social Affairs, where the enterprise is located in order to be settled [4].
Building Democratic Regulation plays an important role in creating a healthy working environment, helping employer and employees reach an unanimity on labor issues, helping the two parties deeply understand each other thereby agreeing to promote the common development of the enterprises. However, the promulgation and implementation of Democratic Regulation in most enterprises is still formalistic and often being “forgotten”, has not been appreciated by leaders and is often not considered to promulgate in accordance with the actual situation, nature, and size of enterprises. Such reality leads to the spirit of democracy at the enterprises is just invisible only on paper, employees are absolutely not allowed to express their aspirations or present personal recommendations about difficulties or negatives that exist at the workplace, as well as useful contributions for enterprise growth. The undemocratic working environment also makes employees feel forced to obey orders, so the parties will not be able to understand each other, and this is a main reason for labor disputes or even strikes. Therefore, it is necessary to build a Democratic Regulation in accordance with the unique characteristics of each enterprise to improve the quality of work, work spirit, and contribute to create a healthy working environment for both employees and enterprises.
How to build the effective Democratic Regulation as well as comply with the law?
The Democratic Regulation shall [5] be built based on the following three main principles: (i) Goodwill, cooperation, honesty, equality, publicity, and transparency; (ii) Respecting the legitimate rights and interests of employees, employers and other relevant organizations and individuals; and (iii) Democratic Regulation implementation is not contrary to the provisions of law and social ethics.
In addition, Decree 145/2020/ND-CP also guides relatively clearly on the main contents to be followed by employers to promulgate the Democratic Regulation, including: (i) Contents that enterprises must publicized such as business performance, deduction, establishment and use of bonus and welfare funds contributed by employees… [6]; (ii) Issues and form for employees to give opinion and decide on inspection and supervision; (iii) Organization of dialogue at the workplace; and (iv) Organization of employee conference to exchange and connect between employers and employees in promoting enterprise development. Besides the above content, enterprises can also supplement other forms of democracy at the workplace, depending on the needs and characteristics of each enterprise. Therefore, to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of the Democratic Regulation, enterprises should note the following points while drafting and issuing the Democratic Regulation:
Firstly, ensuring the compliance with the core principles and main contents of the Democratic Regulation in accordance with the law;
Secondly, based on the business and production activities of the enterprise and the labour welfare regime, the internal regulations of each type of enterprises will be supplemented by the enterprise to suit the need of actual situation of the For example, if an enterprise has a charity fund or a fund for extra-curricular activities, the Democratic Regulation should stipulate that employees are allowed to give opinion on, decide, inspect and supervise the implementation of these issues;
Thirdly, although the law allows enterprises to choose many different forms to implement Democratic Regulation as long as it is not prohibited by law, it is necessary to clearly prescribe one or a number of certain forms to do for consistency, avoiding unnecessary confusion; and
Fourthly, as mentioned above, the Democratic Regulation is only issued after consulting the organization representing employees at the enterprise and the representative group because the Democratic Regulation has a direct effect on the right and interest of employees. Once promulgated, the Democratic Regulation needs to be publicized at the workplace or through online forms, and employers shall ensure that employees can access the publicly available information. Enterprises should pay attention to this point to minimize the risk that the Democratic Regulation could be considered by the Court or competent State authorities to be invalid and unenforceable.
Procedures for Democratic Regulation effectiveness
The Labour Law does not require enterprises to register Democratic Regulation with competent State authorities. To ensure the Democratic Regulation effectiveness, enterprise needs to consult with the organization representing employees at the enterprise (if any) and the representative group (if any) during the drafting process and before promulgation. If the parties have different opinions and do not reach a unanimity on the terms of the Democratic Regulation, the enterprises have the right to decide for itself what will be mentioned in the Democratic Regulation but must clearly state reasons of disagreement with the opinion of the others. Finally, the Democratic Regulation, after being promulgated, must be publicized to employees. Enterprises need to fully implement the above steps to ensure the Democratic Regulation effectiveness and limit risks.
The role of grassroots trade unions and organization representing employees in developing, promulgating and implementing Democratic Regulation
Recognizing importance of the development and implementation of Democratic Regulation for the working environment as well as the quality of employees’ work, the Vietnam Ganeral Confederation of Labour has issued Guidance 1360/HD-TLD dated 28 August 2019 guide to build and implement Democratic Regulation at the enterprises. This is an advantageous document for grassroots trade unions and organizations representing employees to consult and advise, guide and propagate employees on the construction and implementation of Democratic Regulation at the enterprises. In addition, grassroots trade unions and organizations representing the employees are also responsible for inspecting and supervising the organization, participants, and the time when the dialogue at workplaces and the employee conference has been conducted in accordance with the Democratic Regulation and the provisions of the law. Because the majority of employees do not clearly understand relevant legal provisions on their legitimate rights and interests as well as are not experts in negotiating to CLA amendments and other internal regulations in a more favorable direction for them. Grassroots trade unions and organizations representing the employees will play an essential role as the representative of employees to negotiate for the purpose of improving labor welfare for employees.
The role of Democratic Regulation is to act as a bridge between employers and employees in exchanging information, expressing aspiration and thought of employees as well as proposing ways to resolve disagreements in the labor relationship. Since then, the effective development and implementation of Democratic Regulation also help strengthen the increasingly harmonious labour relationship, create a healthy and positive working environment, and promote the common development of enterprises so that increase labor welfare for employees. Although developing and promulgating a Democratic Regulation is a mandatory provision, the initiative from the employer will help maximise the benefits that Democratic Regulation can bring to both employees and employers. Therefore, employers need to consider promulgating the most appropriate Democratic Regulation as possible.
[1] Article 79.1 of the Labour Code 2019
[2] Article 48 and Article 114.4 of Decree 145/2020/ND-CP
[3] Article 14 of Decree 28/2020/ND-CP
[4] Article 15 of Decree 24/2018/ND-CP
[5] Article 42 of Decree 145/2020/ND-CP
[6] Article 43 Decree 145/2020/ND-CP
2, 5. People's Inspection Committee in enterprises
More than 50 trade union officials in the southern provinces and cities and the Vietnam Rubber Trade Union participated in a workshop to comment on the draft Law on implementing democracy at grassroots organized by the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor on August 24, in Ho Chi Minh City.
According to Mr. Vu Hong Quang, Deputy Head of the Policy and Law Department of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, the Party and State attach great importance to promoting the people's right to mastery and implementing democracy at the grassroots. In fact, if democracy is well implemented at the grassroots level, it will promote the ownership of employees, making an important contribution to protecting the legitimate rights and interests of employees.
Many comments at the workshop were concerned about the operation regulations of the People's Inspection Committee, especially in non-state enterprises.
Mr. Nguyen Duc Thang - Head of the Department of Policy and Law of the Labor Confederation of Binh Phuoc province - said that it is necessary to explain what the People's Inspection Committee is because the draft law does not yet have this provision. At the same time, the financial support for the operation of the People's Inspection Committee assigned to the trade union is not consistent with the provisions of the Trade Union Law.
Meanwhile, Mr. Nguyen Van Nho - Deputy Head of the Department of Policy and Law of the Labor Confederation of Labor in Tay Ninh province - commented that, according to the provisions of the draft, "The People's Inspection Committee in organizations employing employees is directly managed by the Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam. continue to direct activities; Where there is no trade union, the activities of the People's Inspection Committee shall be directed and guided by the district-level Labor Confederation.
However, in fact, many enterprises are located in EPZs and IZs, and trade union activities are directly directed by trade unions of IZs, so it should stipulate that "where there is no trade union, the activities of the People's Inspectorate directed and guided by the superior trade union" to suit the operation of the trade union system.
Agreeing with this idea, Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Kieu - Head of the Department of Policy - Law - Labor Relations - Ho Chi Minh City Labor Union. Can Tho also said that asking the district Labor Confederation to direct the activities of the People's Inspection Committee where there is no Communist Party as drafted is not feasible in practice. "It is really not feasible for the labor union to go to non-state enterprises to establish a communist trade union, but now assigning the task of directing the activities of the people's inspection committee in a place where there is no communist union, it is really not feasible," Ms. Kieu said.
Mr. Nguyen Van Khanh - Head of Policy - Law - Labor Relations Department of Vietnam Rubber Union - also said that the fact that many businesses do not have a People's Inspection Committee but still operate effectively, without any loss. asset. “The most important activity of the People's Inspection Committee in enterprises is to supervise the implementation of resolutions on the activities of enterprises. But an employee who is only an employee cannot ask the business owner to provide documents, or supervise his boss's activities, because there is a risk of being fired," Khanh said.
According to Mr. Le Van Dai - Vice Chairman of the City Confederation of Labor. Da Nang – There should be clear regulations on the responsibility of providing information of the head of the unit or business, if not, what sanctions must be imposed. Along with that, there should be regulations on the prohibition of punishing people who exercise democratic rights at grassroots level.
Mr. Dai also frankly said that many People's Inspection Committees currently operate in a formal and ineffective manner. Therefore, there should be clear provisions in the law on the operation of the People's Inspection Committee, especially in non-state enterprises, in order to promote its effectiveness in practice.
“In many places, the Communist Party's operation is still ineffective, and now it is assigned more responsibility to direct the activities of the People's Inspection Committee, how can this committee perform well without clear regulations on its activities? In addition, if the enterprise has both trade unions and other representative workers' organizations, which agency will direct the activities of the People's Inspection Committee, so it is necessary to regulate this case, "said Dai.
Many opinions also believe that the building of grassroots democracy regulations in organizations that employ workers must be mandatory, not encouraged as in the draft, because incentives can be done or not, affecting affect the democratic rights of workers.
3.ARE DEMOCRACY REGULATIONS AT THE WORKPLACE COMPULSORY?
https://phuoc-associates.com/are-democracy-regulations-at-the-workplace-compulsory/#_ftn3
In comparison with the Labour Code 2012, the Labour Code 2019 specifically regulates the cases in which employers must organize dialogues at the workplace. For example, the employer must organize dialogues at workplace to share the information, consult, discuss and exchange the opinion as between the employer and the employee or organizational representing the employees (if any) [1] when employers retrench employees in case of changes in structure, technology or due to economic reasons. Besides, the laws on labor also require employers to issue democracy regulations at the workplaces to carry out the regulations on dialogues and democracy at workplaces (“Democracy Regulations”) [2]. If not, employers are imposed administrative penalties of up to VND20,000,000, and the legally binding documents relating to labor relation issued by employers will be affected [3]. Hence, employers should pay more attention to the drafting and the issuance of the Democracy Regulations. So how to draft and issue it in accordance with the Vietnamese law?
Democracy Regulations are regulations about rights and obligations of employers, organizational representing the employees at grassroots level (if any) and employees on issues related to the rights, benefits and concerns of parties at the workplaces. However, the laws on labor do not require all the employers to draft and issue the Democracy Regulations. Only employers that have 10 employees or more must issue such regulations. The Democracy Regulations must meet the following conditions:
About content: Democracy Regulations must content the following main particulars:
Content related to the dialogues at the workplace:
Principles of dialogue at the workplace;
Number and composition of participants from each dialogue party in accordance with the law;
Number of times and time for organising periodic dialogues on a yearly basis;
Methods of organising periodic dialogues, dialogues at the request of either or both parties, and dialogues upon the occurrence of events;
Responsibilities of the parties when participating in dialogue as stipulated in accordance with the law;
Implementation of the provisions to employee representatives participating in the dialogues who are not members of the Leader Committee of any representative organizations of employees at grassroots level; and
Other contents (if any).
Involving carrying out Democracy Regulations:
(i) Issues and forms to be publicised by employers. Such as:
– Issues to be publicized by employers include:
The production and business situation of the employers;
Employer’s internal labour regulations, salary scale, salary table, labour norms, rules and other documents related to employees’ rights, obligations and responsibilities;
Collective labour agreements joined by the employers;
The establishment and use of reward funds, welfare funds and other funds contributed by employees (if any);
The withholding and payment of trade union fees, social insurance, health insurance and unemployment insurance premiums;
The exercise of emulation, commendation, discipline, settlement of complaints and denunciations related to employees’ legitimate rights and interests; and
Other issues as stipulated by law (if any).
– Forms to be applied to public by the employers included:
Public notice at the workplace;
Verbal notice in meetings, dialogues between the employer and representative organisations of employees at grassroots level/elected employees’ dialogue representatives;
Written notice sent to representative organisations of employees at grassroots level to notify the members and employees;
Notice on the internal communication system; and
Other form as stipulated by law (if any).
Issues and forms to be consulted with employees and forms of consultation. For example:
– Issues to be consulted with employees include:
Development, amendment and supplementation of the employer’s internal work regulations, rules and other documents related to employees’ rights, obligations and interests;
Development, amendment and supplementation of the salary scale, salary table and labour norms; proposed issues for collective bargaining;
Recommendation and implementation of solutions to save costs, increase labour productivity, improve working conditions, protect the environment and prevent fire; and
Other issues related to employees’ rights, obligations and interests as stipulated by law.
– The form of consultation that employers shall use:
Take direct comments or recommendations from employees;
Take comments or recommendations through representative organisations of employees; through the employees’ congress, dialogues at the workplace; and/or
Other issues as stipulated by law (if any).
Issues and form to be decided by employees and forms of decision. For example:
Enter into, amend, supplement, terminate employment contracts as stipulated by law;
Joining or not joining representative organisation of employees at grassroots level;
Participating or not participating in strikes in accordance with law;
Voting for agreed collective bargaining issue(s) as a ground for signing the collective labour agreement in accordance with law; and
Other issues as stipulated by law (if any).
Issues and form to be examined and supervised by employees, such as:
The implementation of employment contracts and collective labour agreement;
The implementation of the employer’s internal rules, regulations and other documents related to employees’ rights, obligations and interests;
The use of reward funds, welfare funds and other funds contributed by employees;
The withholding and payment of trade union fees, social insurance, health insurance and unemployment insurance premiums by the employer;
The exercise of emulation, commendation, discipline, settlement of complaints and denunciations related to employees’ rights, obligations and interests; and
Other issues as stipulated by law (if any).
The congress’ form, contents, participants, time, venue, procedures, organisation responsibility and the form of dissemination of the congress’ results.
About orders, procedures of issuing the Democracy Regulations: The laws on labour do not require employers to register the Democracy Regulations with local labour State authorities, but the employers must consult representative organisation of employees at grassroots level (if any) and elected employees’ dialogue representatives (if any) before finalisation and issuance. In case the employers do not absorb comments from representative organisation of employees at grassroots level and elected employees’ dialogue representatives, the reasons must be clearly stated. Finally, the Democracy Regulations at workplaces must be disseminated to employees so as to take effect and reduce potential risks for businesses. If you find it difficult to draft and issue Democracy Regulations, please do not hesitate to contact us. Phuoc & Partners is a reputable law firm in Vietnam with the most experienced lawyers and staffs in the field of Labour and Employment. We are able to support and solve your questions in relation to drafting and issuing the Democracy Regulations. [1] Article 63 of the Labour Code 2019 [2] Article 48 of Decree 145/2020/ND-CP, providing and guiding in detail the implementation of a number of articles of the Labour Code regarding labor conditions and employment relationship [3] Articles 5 and 15 of Decree 12/2022/ND-CP, providing administrative fines in the field of labor, social insurance and Vietnamese employees working abroad per contract
4. 8 associations propose to abolish private enterprises that are subject to the Law on Implementing Democracy at Grassroots
According to the associations, the public consultation of the subjects is specified in the draft law, but businesses only know information via the media instead of formal surveys or requests as well as holding meetings and seminars to explain and collect official opinions on the draft law, while businesses are the object of the great impact of this Law.
Regarding the application of the Law on Grassroots Democracy to private enterprises, the associations said that this provision applied to private enterprises would cause many difficulties.
Because the operating structure of a private enterprise is completely different from that of a state-owned enterprise. A private enterprise invests itself to build an enterprise with its own capital, independent of the State budget. Therefore, private enterprises have the right to decide corporate governance without having to consult employees.
Currently, enterprises are implementing democratic regulations very well according to the provisions of the Law (Labor Law, Law on Trade Unions). Furthermore, there have not been any complaints about disobedient enterprises and there is no democracy in enterprises to protect the legitimate rights and interests of employees. Adding the Grassroots Democracy Law will cause overlaps and duplication.
Enterprises already have a trade union, an employee representative organization to represent the employees as prescribed in the Labor Code, the Trade Union Law and the relevant Decrees.
There is a trade union fund to perform the assigned tasks, so the trade union organization must effectively promote the implementation of democracy in the enterprise in protecting the legitimate rights and interests of employees. Therefore, a new organization like the people's inspectorate with overlapping activities is a waste of costing and human resource consuming for trade unions and enterprises.
The provision and disclosure of all information of the enterprise, especially confidential information in corporate governance (production and business situation, operation situation, salary scale, payroll) to all employees, trade unions, and people's inspection boards are inappropriate, unjustified, contrary to the autonomy of enterprises under the Law on Investment, the Law on Enterprises, the Law on Intellectual Property and common sense.
Because the enterprise has operated and complied with many legal regulations, and there have been inspection teams to check compliance with the law, the enterprise must be free to operate and control administration.
If too much power is given to workers and people's inspection boards, which exceeds their legitimate interests, making it easy for employees to make claims, form factions, and cause interference for business owners.
Most businesses follow the law and take care of their employees very well, not only due to some isolated ones can generally apply this law to the whole business.
Therefore, the Association proposes to abolish private enterprises as the object of the Law on implementing democracy at the grassroots level. At the same time, meetings and seminars are of urgent need to the business community so that they have the opportunity to contribute directly.
8 business associations, including: Vietnam Leather, Footwear and Handbag Association (LEFASO), Transparent Food Association (AFT), Vietnam Wood and Forest Products Association (VFA), Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VFA), VITAS), Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), Food and Food Association of Ho Chi Minh City (FFA), Vietnam Tea Association (VITAS), and Vietnam Motorcycle Manufacturers Association (VAMM).
By Lê Thu/ Thu Phuong
6. Promote the implementation of the Regulation on democracy at enterprises
Vice Chairwoman of the Provincial Labor Confederation
Nguyen Thi Hoai Le
Implement the Regulations on Democracy (QCDC) at enterprises in order to build a harmonious, stable, progressive labor relationship and minimize disputes. labor. However, in our province, in many enterprises, the implementation is still limited, some enterprises do it, but it is still formal, not actively listening, grasping the thoughts and aspirations of employees (employees).
There are many limitations and difficulties
Many businesses are not fully aware of the meaning and importance of implementing grassroots democracy in the workplace. Therefore, enterprises have not paid attention to the development and implementation of QCD and have not timely developed regulations and procedures for organizing employee conferences; delay in amending and supplementing the contents to conform to the provisions of current law; not interested in holding dialogue in the workplace or if the organization is still formal. Some enterprises also assign contracts to grassroots trade unions to implement. Meanwhile, according to Decree 145/2020/ND-CP of the Prime Minister, the active role belongs to enterprises. There are even enterprises in the implementation process that have deliberately not implemented, giving many reasons to avoid such as: due to production characteristics, unable to stop operating equipment and machinery; The number of workers in factories is so large that they cannot gather, so it is difficult to hold dialogues, due to production to keep up the orders. Even some businesses avoid or are not very interested in holding dialogues with employees, which has made it difficult for the Trade Union to advise and propose the implementation of grassroots QCD.
Regarding the participation of the Communist Party of China in the development and implementation of grassroots democracy regulations, the Communist Party's cadres work part-time, focusing a lot on professional work, so the role of the Communist Party of Vietnam is to participate in the development and implementation of the grassroots democracy. Currently, the grassroots democracy regulation is not clear, so most of the contents of the regulations are built and copied from legal documents. The contents that the employer must publicize for the employees to know, comment on, decide on, check, and supervise are still general, not specific, detailed, not closely followed, and suitable to the actual situation. production and business of the enterprise. In some places, trade union officials have not been proactive and active in coordinating with enterprises to organize the implementation of QCDC and have not timely grasped the thoughts and aspirations of employees. Some of the collective agreements have expired but have not yet been negotiated or re-signed. The number of collective agreements with favorable terms in terms of salary, bonus, allowance is low. The supervision of the implementation of the collective bargaining agreement of the Communist Party of Vietnam has been carried out, but in some units, it has not been effective. Some trade unions directly superior at grassroots level have not actively followed the grassroots level to guide and support trade unions in the process of negotiating and signing collective agreements.
In addition, in 2021, the situation of COVID-19 epidemic in the province is complicated, the consequences of natural disasters in 2020 have also affected many aspects of socio-economic life, many businesses have to narrow production and business, greatly affecting employment, income and life of union members and employees. At the same time, it also significantly affects the implementation of QCC at the workplace at the workplace.
The numbers
According to statistics, in 2021, the whole province has 144/161 enterprises (with 10 or more employees, having established trade unions) to organize workers' conferences, reaching the rate of 89%; 25% of enterprises (with a Communist Party of 10 employees or more) have developed and promulgated regulations on implementation of grassroots democracy in the workplace, including regulations on organization of dialogues (some businesses have include the content of the dialogue in the enterprise's management regulations) in accordance with the new regulations and maintain the organization of the dialogue; There are 139 copies of the collective labor agreement, of which 79 have been graded, evaluated and classified according to the Guideline 1580/HD-TLD of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor (60 copies have expired, so no grading, evaluation, classification) . As a result, there were 5 copies of class A (accounting for 6.3%), 43 copies of class B (a rate of 54.5%), and 31 copies of class C and D (39.2%).
There needs to be specific, synchronous solutions
In order for the implementation of grass-roots QC at enterprises to be carried out properly and sufficiently in accordance with the law, bringing about a harmonious, stable and progressive labor relationship, specific and synchronous solutions are needed. . Trade unions at all levels need to step up propaganda and raise awareness for trade union officials at all levels, employers and employees about the role, meaning and importance of the implementation of QCDC at the grassroots level. Continue to propagate and disseminate the Party's guidelines, the State's policies and laws related to the formulation and implementation of QCDC at the grassroots level. Especially, thoroughly grasp, deploy and guide the implementation of regulations on QCD at the workplace at the workplace in Section 2, Chapter V, Decree No. 145/2020/ND-CP dated December 14, 2020, of the Government detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Labor Code 2019 on labor relations and labor conditions for employees. business unions, employers and employees. Strengthen the responsibility of trade unions at all levels in actively participating and coordinating with employers in the development and implementation of QCDC at the grassroots level, focusing on guiding establishments that have not yet performed well.
Actively coordinate with state management agencies to strengthen inspection, examination and supervision of the implementation of democracy in the workplace; strengthen supervision and critique activities according to Decision 217-QD/TW, Decision 218-QD/TW on the implementation of QC at the grassroots level and issues directly related to employees.
Strengthen skills and professional training for trade union officials of enterprises. Organize forums to exchange experiences in the implementation of CDC for cadres of the Communist Party of China. Strengthen the support of the superior trade union for the Communist Party in the implementation of democracy at the grassroots.
Regularly grasp the employment situation, life, the implementation of regimes and policies for employees as well as the thoughts and aspirations of officials, union members and employees. Promptly detect, reflect, resolve or coordinate to resolve pressing issues, complaints and denunciations of employees; difficulties, obstacles, and inadequacies in the implementation of QCDC at the grassroots level and in the implementation of regimes and policies, issues related to the legitimate and legitimate rights and interests of union members and employees.
Pay attention to building models, typical implementation of QCDC at grassroots in various types, promptly praising, rewarding, and replicating typical examples.
For trade unions, it is necessary to have many solutions to help enterprises understand the benefits of employee conferences, sign collective labor agreements, and coordinate with trade unions to promote the implementation of QCDC in accordance with the order and regulations; It is necessary to actively grasp the thoughts and aspirations of employees to record recommendations and propose measures to the employer. When there are recommendations that enterprises have not yet removed, the Communist Party of Vietnam plans to negotiate, dialogue, and resolve thoroughly and thoroughly without prolonging leading to labor disputes. Along with listening to the aspirations of the employees to find a way to solve it, when the enterprise organizes the annual workers' conference, it is necessary to report on the production situation in the year and the next year's plans, creating conditions for the employees to give their opinions. Employees will understand their responsibilities and be very excited and assured to stick with the enterprise.
It can be said that businesses that want to develop, especially in the context of the current complicated situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, need to focus on implementing democracy at the grassroots in the workplace, promoting relevant stakeholders. a quality dialogue labor system, harmoniously resolving the interests of the parties, building stable and progressive labor relations, ensuring workers' lives and business operations.
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More on the achievements of labor reform in Vietnam over the years:
https://en.baochinhphu.vn/outstanding-provisions-on-grassroots-democracy-regulations-11134007.htm
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