EC Meeting Papers January 2018

The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) central committee underlined promoting the development of all forms of production, business and goods and service provision in the production network between the private economy, state sector, collective economy and foreign-invested businesses.

The commanding heights of the Vietnamese economy — energy, land, utilities and so on remain in public hands.

The socialist-oriented market economy Vietnam is building is an economy operating in line with the rules of a market economy while ensuring socialist orientations suitable to each development stage of the country. It will be a modern and internationally integrated economy under the management of a socialist law-governed state led by the CPV, for the goal of a “prosperous people, strong country, and democratic, equitable and civilised society.”

The socialist-oriented market economy is seen as an economic model in the transitional period to socialism in Vietnam.

The trade union movement in Vietnam plays a key role in engaging and formulating all labour-related legislation and policies.

These range from fundamental laws such as the comprehensive labour code and general trade union law, to welfare legislation, social insurance law and health and safety.

Rights relating to industrial action, including the right to strike, are enshrined in the labour code. This right to call a strike is strongly protected and governed. Labour disputes must be conciliated and arbitrated before unions are able to call strikes, which in turn must follow certain prescribed procedures.

However, there are many employers, both domestic, private and foreign, that are breaching labour-related legislation in Vietnam.

This is the cause of many wildcat strikes. Employers’ violations have resulted from several factors, including a limited number of labour inspectors, ineffective law enforcement, intentional behaviour of employers and poor communication capability of many workplace unions.

All the strikes that occurred did not follow the procedures required and therefore were considered as wildcat strikes.

The fact that most of them ended up with an agreement from employers to accept the demands of the strikers (in full or partly) makes wildcat strike a measure that workers tend to resort to. The 11th Vietnam National Trade Unions Congress has adopted four main plans of action which cover organising new members and workplaces, building capacity for trade union reps to improve the quality of trade union activities, improving the quality of collective bargaining agreements’ negotiation and implementation, and improving vocational and professional skills for workers.