In the past time, the discord in labor relations leading to acts of humiliation, mistreatment and beatings, affecting the health, honor and psychology of employees still occurs in some businesses. In addition, taking advantage of employees' limited knowledge of labor laws, some enterprises circumvent the law and fail to implement regimes and policies in accordance with regulations.
Lawyer Vu Ngoc Ha, Director of the Trade Union Legal Consultancy Center advises and supports workers
Employees are still disadvantaged
Recently, Ms. N.T.A.T., a purchasing employee at OT Motor Vina Co., Ltd (Nhon Trach District) was beaten by a foreign manager at work and had to go to the hospital for emergency treatment, causing discontent among employees working at enterprises in the province. That being said, Ms. T is having a small child, has just been on maternity leave and returned to work. After the above incident, up to now, Ms. T's mentality is still unstable. Over the past few days, the family has always been by her side to encourage and comfort Ms. T. In addition, the Trade Union has stood by, visited, and helped to stabilize Ms. T's psychology.
On March 7, Ms. T came to the Trade Union Legal Counseling Center (under the Provincial Labor Confederation) for advice, support, and reclaimed her legitimate rights. "I hope the Trade Union and functional sectors will soon step in to have a form of dealing with enough deterrence, helping employees when coming to enterprises to work with safeguard timely" - Ms. T. said.
The case of being beaten at work like Ms. T. is not common, but it makes employees confused. According to many employees, the situation of leaders and managers using heavy words, even insults, forcing workers to work happens every day. If conflicts in labor relations not resolved in a long time, will make employees inhibited and work productivity will also decrease. The majority of employees want to be protected, have a cultural, safe and respected working environment to focus on their work.
Ms. Le Thi My, working at a leather shoes company (Bien Hoa II Industrial Park) says that: workers want to have an income source to cover their lives when they go to work. However, the working environment is not easily, she is often insulted by the manager even applying for leave is difficult. At those times, she must be silent because she will be reflected and fired if she argues. “If I reflect, I will be asked to work more, and if I choose to work quietly, I will be disadvantaged. Therefore, the lives of a workers are still too challenging", - Ms. My shared.
Lawyer Vu Ngoc Ha, Director of the Trade Union Legal Consultancy Center said that: in the past time, the center had promoted consulting, support and protection of employees' interests. Many workers had reclaimed their legitimate rights. In the case of Ms. T. being beaten by the manager, although it happened not usual at enterprises, it caused panic mentality among employees. The center was ready to advise and provide legal support to Ms. T. In case Ms. T was still not mentally stable, the center can be authorized to work with the authorities to protect best interests for employees.
Need to protect workers promptly
The situation of employees suffers many disadvantages because not only treated with disrespect, leading to conflicts, but the situation of law evasion and avoidance of corporate responsibilities for employees also occurs in many places. Especially in difficult times like today, there have been many changes in the employment, income, lives and working positions of employees. Many employees due to their limited knowledge of the law were fired by enterprises or finding ways to let employees write their own resignation letters.
Mr. N.V.H, working at a shoes accessory manufacturing company in Nhon Trach District said that: the company has found ways to lay off workers since the Covid-19 pandemic, especially elderly workers with high incomes. Some employees were transferred to jobs not suitable to their expertise. He himself was working as a production manager with a salary of 18 million VND per month, but he was not assigned a work and he had to wait until the time to leave work every day.
According to Mr. H, the enterprise takes the reason that production is difficult, so they cut labor and closed a number of factories. In 2022 alone, there were more than 300 jobs cut. "To the high-wage workers and managers, if their jobs cannot be cut, the enterprise will find ways to change their jobs so that the employees will get bored and write their own resignation letters" - Mr. H. said.
Over the past time, many employees have come to the Trade Union organization and the Provincial Trade Union Legal Counseling Center for advice and support. In 2022 alone, the center has provided legal advice to nearly 6,000 employees and provided legal support to 520 cases with the following contents: salary, labor contract, insurance, severance allowance, etc. The center participated in court proceedings in 93 cases, provided legal assistance and protected in court for 15 cases. Accordingly, the enterprises have compensated employees with the amount of more than 2.6 billion VND. In addition, Trade Unions at all levels have negotiated and worked with enterprises to fully implement regimes and policies for employees.
However, many business owners still intentionally violate and do not comply with labor laws and employees are still disadvantaged. Facing the above situation, functional agencies, especially Trade Unions at all levels need to pay attention to the legitimate rights and interests of employees. In particular, when there is information or feedbacks from employees related to unsatisfactory regimes and policies, violations of the law and being mistreated or forced to quit, the competent authorities shall take the form of handling strictly for deterrence. For Trade Union organizations, it is necessary to take a drastic action to the end to protect the interests of employees.
According to lawyer Vu Ngoc Ha, Director of the Legal Counseling Center of the Provincial Trade Union, in order to limit violations of labor laws and build stable labor relations, it is necessary to promote propaganda and awareness, strongly raise awareness for business owners and employees. For business owners, especially foreign workers when coming to Vietnam for work need to learn Vietnamese culture and law in order to live and work according to the law. For employees, it is necessary to participate in training and communication courses on labor laws, regimes and policies to improve understanding.
