UNI APRO, Vietnam exchange experience in trade union activities

International experiences contribute to building harmonious and stable labor relations, protecting the legitimate rights and interests of employees in Vietnam’s retail industry.

UNI Global Union – Asia and Pacific Regional Office (UNI APRO) is committed to working closely with the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor (VGCL) to improve the quality of Trade Union activities in the country's chain of retail stores.

UNI APRO’s Secretary Rajendra Acharya Kumar made his statement at a workshop held in Hanoi this week.

The secretary highly valued the activities of the Vietnamese trade union in protecting the legitimate rights and interests of employees as well as their welfare amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

UNI APRO’s Secretary Rajendra Acharya Kumar (left) and Standing Vice President of the VGCL Tran Thanh Hai at the workshop held in Hanoi. Photo: Hai Nguyen

He said UNI APRO has signed framework agreements with multinational corporations and wishes to cooperate with Vietnam Trade Union in implementing the contents of those agreements.

For his part, Standing Vice President of the VGCL Tran Thanh Hai said that international experiences shared at the workshop will be valuable to improve the quality of Trade Union activities in Vietnam's chain of retail stores.

Hai emphasized that these international experiences would contribute to building harmonious and stable labor relations, protecting the legitimate rights and interests of employees in Vietnam’s retail industry.

"In addition to positive contributions such as creating jobs and income for people, the appearance of mini supermarkets and convenience stores poses many difficulties and challenges for workers in the retail industry when the majority of them have not been professionally trained, employers still lack experience in building good labor relations and the legitimate rights and interests of employees have not been properly protected. Thus, the international experiences are really valuable for the Vietnamese trade union sector," Hai said.

He also talked about major issues facing the Vietnamese trade union like the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on production, income and living standards of laborers, as well as on trade union activities.

The fourth Industrial Revolution, the dizzying development of science and technology, and climate change impacts have led to the creation of new jobs, forcing trade union organizations to revamp their modus operandi, Hai noted.

He added that Vietnamese trade union organizations have also played a role in building policies and laws in order to ensure the legal rights and interests of laborers while diversifying their operations to better care for their material and spiritual lives.

At the workshop, participants discussed the current status of the trade union model of supermarket chains in Vietnam; building strong trade unions in the retail industry in Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia; policies and laws related to trade unions in the retail industry in Vietnam; other issues related to building membership in the retail industry from an international perspective.

According to a report of VGCL, the retail industry in Vietnam is currently attracting a large workforce, but in terms of labor structure, it is mainly consisting of unskilled workers who account for around 85% of the total, while administrative workers only make up about 15%.