Proceedings of 10th Asia - Pacific Business and Humanities Conference
22 - 23 February 2016, Hotel Istana, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
ISBN: 978-1-925488-00-5
Trade Union Revitalisation in Vietnam: Building UnionManagement Partnership
Bac Phuong Nguyen
Abstract
This paper examines trade union revitalisation in Vietnam. Although Vietnamese
trade unions have displayed signs of reform, there has been a lack of possible
strategies to implement the changes given the current political situation. This
paper addresses the question of what the appropriate strategies for trade union
revitalisation in Vietnam might be. This qualitative research employs the theory
building approach from multiple-case studies with ten cases of primary trade
unions in the public and business sectors. The data collection methods include
semi-structured interviews, documentary analysis, and unobtrusive observation
of union activities. The research explores that in transitional economies like
Vietnam trade union reform is restricted and led by the leadership of the partystate. Union democracy would be references for trade union reform, but it might
not much contribute to strategic choice of unions. This paper hypothesises that
building union-management partnership without changing union identity might be
an appropriate strategy for trade union revitalisation.
Track: Industrial Relation
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Mr. Bac Phuong Nguyen, School of management, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia,
Email: phuongbac.nguyen@rmit.edu.au, Phone: +61 450 456 399