Job rotation of over-age union cadres is still difficult.

Steadfast on all fronts

After 23 years of working in the Youth Union, Secretary of the Youth Union of Tan An Commune (Thanh Ha), in 2017, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Khoi (born in 1975) was transferred to work as a labor, war invalids and social affairs officer. In 2018, he transferred to work as a judicial officer. In July 2023, he returned to work as a labor, war invalids and social affairs officer.

In 2017, Mr. Khoi was over 5 years old according to the regulations for union officials. Because of his age, union activities encountered many difficulties for him. When he was transferred to another job, Mr. Khoi used his many years of experience as a youth leader and successfully completed the assigned tasks. "Because I have worked for many years in the Youth Union, I still maintain a cheerful spirit, and I have young people to handle any difficult tasks, and I have completed all assigned tasks well," said Mr. Khoi.

Job rotation for commune Youth Union cadres used to be a difficult task for Bach Dang commune (Kinh Mon). Four years ago, Do Van Bo, Secretary of the commune Youth Union (at that time 39 years old, 2 years older than the position of Youth Union cadre) was transferred to work at the Commune Party Committee Office and concurrently served as Deputy Head of the Commune Party Committee's Propaganda Department.

Mr. Nguyen Van Ngan, Secretary of the Party Committee of Bach Dang Commune, said that it was the most difficult time in rotating union cadres because for a long time no one in the commune had retired, while there was no successor to build up the commune's union cadres. In 2023, Mr. Bo was transferred to work as a traffic and irrigation civil servant. According to Mr. Bo, the new job positions required high concentration on expertise. However, he still promoted the spirit of youth, eagerness to learn and enthusiasm in everything.

In 2020, Hai Duong had about 35 over-age grassroots union officials. After 4 years, many over-age union officials at that time were transferred before the 2022-2027 term Congress of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union of Hai Duong province. However, according to incomplete statistics from the Provincial Youth Union, as of June 26, the whole province still had about 70 over-age grassroots union officials, of which 8 were district-level union officials.

Continue to be a difficult problem

According to Decision No. 289-QD/TW dated February 8, 2010 of the Central Party Secretariat on promulgating the Regulations on cadres of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, the grassroots Youth Union Secretary holding the position must not be older than 35 years old. For areas with special difficulties, borders, islands, policy beneficiaries, the general cultural level is from high school graduation or higher, and has received elementary political theory training, the position must not be older than 37 years old.

Recently, at conferences and dialogues with leaders of Party committees and authorities, many union officials have expressed their opinions and recommendations on solutions to solve the "output" problem for union officials who are over age. Among the union officials who are over age, there are many who are over 40 years old.

Mr. Nguyen Hoang Hien (born in 1982) worked for 18 years and was the leader of the Kim Tan Commune Youth Union (Kim Thanh). By 2023, Mr. Hien was the oldest commune Youth Union Secretary in Kim Thanh district (41 years old) and was transferred to another position. According to Mr. Hien, in addition to difficulties in arranging cadres, the source of successors is also difficult because there are not many young people participating in local youth union work to train.

During the period when the province is implementing the Project on rearranging commune-level administrative units in the 2023-2025 period, this problem becomes more difficult to solve because many communes have merged, there is a surplus of staff, and it is difficult to arrange jobs.

According to the Hai Duong Provincial Youth Union, to solve the "output" for over-age union cadres, in addition to the Party Committee, the government also needs to be responsible for the arrangement. The provincial Youth Union continues to coordinate to train and develop grassroots union cadres in a systematic manner to be ready for all assigned tasks when rotated.

The Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee has requested the Standing Committees of Party Committees at all levels to review, arrange, and organize according to their authority the over-age union cadres for re-election at the Union Congresses at all levels for the 2022-2027 term, to be completed no later than the first quarter of 2025. According to the direction of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee, the rotation period of union cadres is "extended" to the first quarter of 2025 at the latest, so from now until then, the Provincial Youth Union will focus on reviewing and coordinating with districts, towns, and cities to solve this problem.