Proposal to reform regional minimum wages, towards living wages

At the 13th Congress of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor on the morning of December 3, Mr. Ngo Duy Hieu, Vice President of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, read a report summarizing the recommendations of union members, workers and trade union organizations to the Party and State.

Through the trade union congresses at all levels, the Presidium of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor received 445 opinions. These are also the thoughts, aspirations, proposals, and recommendations of workers, civil servants, laborers, and trade union officials to the Party, the State, and the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor.

Towards a living wage

Many opinions hope that the Party and State will issue policies to promote workers to have sustainable jobs, living wages, and ensure social security and social welfare for workers.

In particular, the Party and State should consider, research, and innovate the regional minimum wage regime, aiming for a living wage for workers.

During the congress, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Khang, President of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, stated that over the past 5 years, the Union has proposed a 25.34% increase in regional minimum wages. This is one of the reasons why the number of collective work stoppages has decreased by 55.3%.

In addition, workers hope to have more resources to promote the project of 1 million social housing apartments for low-income people and industrial park workers in the period of 2021-2030 and pay attention to planning and building schools and medical facilities in places with a large number of workers.

According to Mr. Ngo Duy Hieu, the expectation of many workers is that the authorities continue to improve the laws on social insurance and health insurance. From there, workers will clearly see the benefits, have confidence in staying in the insurance system, and ensure social security rights.

In addition, workers hope the Government will consider assigning the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs to coordinate with relevant parties to research and propose reducing working hours for employees to less than 48 hours/week.

This creates conditions for workers to rest, restore their labor, take care of their children, ensure family happiness, and at the same time aim for fairness with administrative working hours (40 hours/week).

Proposal to support more than 200,000 workers with social insurance debt

Many union members hope that the Union will propose that the Government soon submit to competent authorities a specific policy to resolve and ensure the rights of more than 200,000 workers who are owed social insurance due to business dissolution, bankruptcy, owners fleeing or restructuring.

Previously, in February 2023, President of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor Nguyen Dinh Khang proposed this content to the Prime Minister. At that time, Mr. Khang expressed that these people were not entitled to any benefits, including pensions. Thereby, the parties will report to the Politburo and submit to the National Assembly a solution.

According to Mr. Hieu, the report also recommends that competent authorities consider increasing annual holidays and Tet holidays at an appropriate time. Because the number of holidays in Vietnam is currently 5-6 days lower than the average of Southeast Asian countries and the world.

Some people think that adding two days off for National Day, from September 2 to 5, will create an opportunity for workers to take their children to school on the first day of school.

"This is the earnest wish of the majority of workers with school-age children," Mr. Hieu stated.

According to the 2019 Labor Code, our country has 11 official holidays including New Year's Day (1 day), Lunar New Year (5 days), Hung Kings' death anniversary (1 day), April 30 Victory Day and International Labor Day (2 days) and National Day September 2 (2 days).