The Singapore’s Healthcare Services Employees' Union comes to know the activities of the Dong Nai Health Services Union

​(News Portal – Dong Nai) - On the afternoon of March 1, the Provincial Confederation of Labor and Dong Nai Health Services Union welcomed and worked with the delegation of the Healthcare Services Employees' Union led by the union's president Ms. K Thanaletchimi.

The Singapore delegation presented gifts to the Dong Nai delegation  

At the meeting, authorized by the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, Chairman of the Provincial Confederation of Labor Nguyen Thi Nhu Y briefly informed the Singapore delegation about the organizational structure of the Vietnamese Trade Union at all levels. Accordingly, Vietnam Trade Union has 4 levels including Vietnam General Confederation of Labor; labor confederation of provinces and cities; industry unions and grassroots unions.  

In Dong Nai alone, there are 17 industry unions with nearly 3 thousand grassroots unions. In particular, the health services union has 34 affiliated grassroots trade unions with more than 11.6 thousand members. The rate of gathering union members into trade unions reached nearly 100%. Union members are female workers, accounting for 69%.

Grassroots unions have performed well their function of protecting the legal and legitimate rights and interests of workers. In addition, many activities have been implemented to care for the material and spiritual lives of union members and workers, helping them feel secure in their work.

However, the Dong Health Services Union also encountered many difficulties. That is, despite managing 34 grassroots trade unions with a very large number of union members, there are only 2 full-time trade union officials, the rest are part-time officials, more or less affecting the activities of the trade union organization.

The delegation also heard the President of Dong Nai General Hospital's Trade Union Le Thi Phuong Tram share information about the unit's outstanding activities.

Specifically, in recent times, the Hospital Trade Union has coordinated with the government and unions to take care of and support union members and workers in many different forms, bringing practical benefits for union members and workers.

Notable activities include giving gifts to trade union members on the occasion of Lunar New Year, organizing the "Spring of Love" program of cooking banh chung to give to impoverished patients receiving treatment at the hospital; giving gifts to patients and union members in difficult circumstances, giving rewards to children of officials and union members who achieve good academic results and well behaved...

The Singapore delegation leader also shared some basic information about the Healthcare Services Employees' Union. Accordingly, the Singapore Healthcare Services Employees' Union has 300 members out of a total of 6 million people, of which 80% of union members are female, 30% of union members are foreigners.  

The Singapore government is very concerned about the lives of medical staff, creating favorable conditions for them to both work and take care of their family members. In hospitals, there are child care centers for medical staff, as well as rooms for female staff to rest and take care of their children, which help medical staff feel secure to focus on their professional work.

In addition, the Singapore Healthcare Services Employees' Union also provides many services for medical staff who choose to work overtime to increase their income and improve their quality of life. Currently, the Healthcare Services Employees' Union is experiencing a lack of nurses.  

The Singapore delegation was very surprised because in Vietnam, the rate of union members joining the trade union is quite high. Dong Nai province also shared experiences and methods to achieve this result with the foreign delegation. 

Delegates of the two countries had a commemorative photo after the meeting 

At the end of the meeting, the Dong Nai Health Services Union and the Singapore Healthcare Services Employees' Union gave each other friendship gifts to commemorate the visit and work with the Dong Nai health industry.​