Legal labor relations constitute the prime subject matter of Vietnam’s labor law.
In the context of national renewal, a transition to a market economy, and international integration, labor relations have become increasingly diversified and complex. Lawmakers have spared no efforts to build and perfect a system of laws governing labor relations.
Article 5 of the Labor Code provides that all job generation, self-employment, job training and education for the purpose of employment, and all labor-intensive production and business activities, are promoted, facilitated or supported by the State.
Under Vietnam’s labor law, labor relations are characterized by the following features:
First, laborers are obliged to accomplish their assigned tasks. Without the consent of their employers, employees may not transfer labor obligations to others.
Second, employers have the right to organize, manage, inspect and supervise the work of their employees.
Third, collective bargaining representatives, i.e., grassroots trade unions, can participate lawfully in labor relations. Trade unions are allowed by law to take part in settling some matters in labor relations in order to protect the rights and interests of laborers.
Under Article 9 of the Labor Code, labor relations between employees and employers are established and maintained through negotiations and agreements on the principles of voluntariness, equality, cooperation, mutual respect for lawful rights, obligations and interests of the two parties and proper implementation of commitments. The State encourages agreements that assure laborers of conditions even more favorable than those provided for by law.
As defined by Vietnam’s labor law, laborers are individuals aged a full 15 years or older, having work capacity and entering into labor contracts with employers. Employers are enterprises, agencies, organizations or individuals. Individual employers must be aged a full 18 years or older, hire or employ laborers and pay wages or remuneration. In labor relations, all involved parties have their own rights and obligations and are required to perform other rights and obligations specified by law to maintain social order, ensure the public interest, and protect the work and living environment.
Under Vietnamese law, laborers have the following rights and obligations:
- To be paid wages according to accomplished work volume and quality, which must not be lower than the minimum wage specified by law;
- To work in safe conditions;
- To enjoy social insurance in accordance with law;
- To rest in accordance with law and agreements between involved parties;
- To found or join trade union organizations;
- To enjoy collective welfare benefits and participate in enterprise management in accordance with law and the internal rules and conditions of their units;
- To strike in accordance with law;
- To perform labor contracts, collective labor agreements and internal rules of their units;
- To observe regulations on labor safety, hygiene and discipline; and,
- To submit to their employers’ lawful management.
Employers have the following rights and obligations:
- To recruit and manage laborers according to production needs and working requirements;
- To nominate their representatives to negotiate and sign collective labor agreements with laborers in their enterprises or branches;
- To reward or discipline their emaployees in accordance with law;
- To terminate labor contracts in specified cases;
- To perform labor contracts, collective labor contracts and other agreements with employees;
- To ensure labor safety and hygiene and other working conditions;
- To maintain labor discipline; and,
- To respect the dignity and honor of laborers and treat them in a fair manner.
In the system of legal labor relations, the relation of employment plays the core role.
Under Vietnam’s labor law, all activities that generate income and are not banned by law are recognized as jobs. It is a responsibility of the State, enterprises and the entire society to create jobs for laborers and ensure that everyone with working capacity enjoys employment opportunities. This is a fundamental principle of Vietnam’s labor law.
In Vietnam, the employment relation exists in three forms:
(1) Job creation assurance between the State and laborers. Concerning this relation, the law lays emphasis on the responsibilities of the State, of which the highest responsibility rests with the National Assembly and the system of state authority and the direct responsibility falls on the Government and the system of state administrative agencies. To discharge these responsibilities, the State approves annual and five-year national employment programs; sets up the national employment fund; and adopts policies for establishment, inspection and supervision of employment service centers.
(2) The employer-employee relationship. In this relationship, employers are responsible for creating jobs for employees and providing them with professional training and retraining, but may neither transfer employees to other jobs against their will and abilities (except for special cases permitted by law) nor discharge them without lawful grounds.
(3) The relation between laborers and employment service organizations. This relation recently came into existence in Vietnam with the emergence of the labor market. Employment service organizations help numerous laborers to find jobs, thereby greatly contributing to the development of labor market. Regrettably, in the past, not a few employment service organizations have taken advantage of their operations to seek illegal profits or even committed deceitful acts against laborers, thus causing adverse impacts on the labor market. To redress this situation, the National Assembly promulgated in 2004 the Law Amending a Number of Articles of the Labor Code, which renames employment service organizations job referral agencies and redefines their functions more clearly (Article 18 on employment service). This Law also enhances the state administration and supervision of job recommendation organizations with a view to encouraging and facilitating the lawful operation of these organizations and assuring the rights and interests of laborers. As provided for in this Law, job recommendation organizations are obliged to provide laborers with employment advice and recommend jobs to them, recruit and supply laborers for employers, and collect and provide information on the labor market in accordance with law.
Many Vietnamese laborers remain untrained and professionally unqualified for the reason that they come from rural areas and are unfamiliar with industrial working styles. Therefore, lawmakers have paid great attention to governing the job training relation in the Labor Code, which devotes a full chapter to this. In the spirit of the labor law, the State seeks to create favorable conditions for job training establishments to operate and develop, and for laborers to learn jobs and improve their professional skills.
The legal relation between employers and trade unions as representatives of labor collectives, also constitutes an important institution of Vietnam’s labor law. When joining in this relation, trade union organizations have the following rights and responsibilities:
- To supervise employers and employees in performing labor contracts and labor law;
- To negotiate and sign collective labor agreements with employers; and,
- To protect the lawful rights and interests of laborers.
In practice, trade union organizations, especially those in private enterprises and foreign-invested enterprises, have operated ineffectively in recent years. The main reason for this situation is that enterprise owners (employers) are not enthusiastic about the operation of trade union organizations and grassroots trade union cadres, who are paid by employers, can hardly oppose their employers in order to protect the lawful rights and interests of employees. The 2004 Labor Law therefore included some new provisions to enhance the operational effectiveness of grassroots trade union organizations.
Along with these fundamental legal labor relations, Vietnam’s labor law also specifically defines and governs labor relations concerning social insurance, compensation, labor management and labor dispute settlement.-