POST-SOCIALIST TRADE UNIONS, LOW PAY AND DECENT WORK
VIETNAM RESEARCH TEAM
SECOND REPORT
THE PRACTICE OF TRADE UNION IN VIETNAMESE HOSPITALS IN
RELATIONS TO WAGES AND WORKING CONDITIONS
Research Team:
Do Quynh Chi
Dang thi Hai Ha
Nguyen Ngoc Thuy
Hanoi, September 2006
METHODOLOGY
Low wages and poor working conditions have long been an aching problem in the
health sector of Vietnam, which is said to be spoiling the work ethics of the health
workers. A vast majority of hospitals in Vietnam are owned by the State, meaning the
wages and working conditions for health workers here are set by the government rather
than through negotiations between workers and employers. Therefore, unions in the
public hospitals, like in many other SOEs, remain more a part of the management than
the real advocate of workers’ interests. In the last decade, with the emergence of foreigninvested and Vietnamese private hospitals that offer better pay and working conditions
and the high demand for quality health services of the public, there have been signals of
changes in the sector.
With a view to studying the role of the union in the health sector and making a
comparison of industrial relations in various types of hospitals, the research team
conducted a number of interviews and observations in 3 hospitals in Hanoi: Bach Mai
(State-run), Trang An (private) and Hanoi French Hospital (foreign-invested) (for the list
of interviews and interviewees, please refer to Annex 1).
It was not easy to conduct interviews and observations with union leaders,
managers and other staff in the hospitals, partly because of their busy schedule
(interviews were often made during shift intervals, lunch time or after work; still these
talks were usually disrupted) and partly due to their perception of union (many
interviewees, at first, refused to take part in the interviews which concern union activities
since for them, the union do nothing and they have little to share with us). Almost all
interviews were in-depth ones with one researcher talking to the interviewees once, twice
or even three times1 to ensure that we could collect the needed information. Besides,
documentary research enabled us to acquire a wider view of the general context of union
in the health sector of Vietnam.
After a discussion among the research team members, we decided to present these
case studies in a comparative way rather than separately in order to show differences and
similarities among the three hospitals. The major findings and recommendations by the
researchers come at the end of the report.
1
We owe Ms. Hai Ha a big thank for the time, effort, and patience she devoted to making all the interviews
in 3 hospitals.
2
A. INTRODUCTION TO THE HEALTH SECTORAL UNION IN
VIETNAM
1. The Formal Organisational Structure
Even though the health sectoral union is subordinate to the Vietnam General
Confederation of Labour (VGCL), its structure appears similar to that of a governmental
ministry. The system consists of 4 levels: national, provincial, and grass root. At the
provincial level, the health union falls into the administration of the provincial VGCL but
takes professional advice from the national health union. The health union also maintains
close link with the health administration (the Ministry of Health at national level and
departments of health at provincial level) (Table 1).
VGCL
Provincial
VGCL
National Health
Sectoral Union
Provincial Health Union
Ministry of Health
Provincial Dept.
of Health
Hospital Unions
Direct administration link
Indirect administration link
Table 1: Organisational structure of the health sectoral union
As stated in Article 26 of the VGCL Statutes, the national sectoral union “… shall
rally TU members and workers of one and the same professional sector irrespective of the
economic sectors they belong to” and “provide direct guidance to TUs in headquarters of
government ministries, Party commissions, national mass organizations, corporations and
ministry-subordinate equivalents”. At the local level, the national sectoral union
“proactively coordinate with provincial or city labor federations in guiding local sectoral
3
TUs implement sector-related labor stipulations and policies, carry out directions and
tasks for sectoral development; establish TUs in non-State economic units operating in
the same professional sector; and participate in the establishment or dissolution of local
sectoral TUs (if any)2”.
The local sectoral unions, however, are not set up by the national sectoral union
but the provincial VGCL: “Local sectoral TUs shall be established (or dissolved) by
provincial or city labor federations following agreement with the corresponding national
sectoral TUs” but receive instructions from both: “Local sectoral TUs shall be subject to
direct guidance by provincial or city labor federations and professional advice from the
corresponding national sectoral TUs, and shall provide guidance for local grassroots
TUs” (Art. 21, VGCL Statutes). In other words, a local health union would be
administratively subordinate to the local VGCL (horizontal administration) and
professionally linked to the national health union (vertical administration).
According to the website of VGCL3 (updated on 12 December 2005), 24
unionised hospitals, mostly bigger ones in the urban areas, are directly registered as
members of the health sectoral union. Unions of provincial hospitals and district and
communal health centers are subordinate to provincial and district VGCL branches.
However, as a union chairman of a private hospital explained to us: “even though our
hospital union remains outside of the sectoral union, if we submit a proposal, it will be
discussed between the city’s VGCL and health union because the latter is supposed to get
involved in all issues related to health workers’ interests”. This is also the reason why
some hospitals prefer to stay outside of the sectoral union: “I find being subordinate to
the city’s VGCL more convenient for us cause our proposals can reach both the city
union federation and the health union at the same time” the union chairman said.
2. Wages and Working Conditions in the Health Sector
Regarding working conditions, health workers, in both clinical and para-clinical
terms, are more vulnerable than those in other sectors to risks at work. According to the
survey on “High-risk factors affecting health and life of health workers and proposals for
improvement” conducted by the MOH in 2004 and 2005 covering over 15 thousands
health workers in the whole country, 65.4% of the informants do not have sufficient
compensative rest after duty; 63.5% lack personal protective devices; 77.6% are
frequently exposed to dangerous substances and chemicals. In the meantime, 80.6% of
health workers complain about low salaries. They are also concerned about low toxic
2
3
VGCL official English website: www.congdoanvn.org.vn
http://www.congdoanvn.org.vn/detail_labours.asp?l=1&c=3&c2=138&c3=156
4
condition allowance (43.3%), low duty pay (33.4%), no experience allowance (24.5%)
and poor safety at work (18.2%).
The calculation of salaries of health workers base on the national minimum wage
(currently 450.000VND or $30/month, increased from 350.000VND on 1 October 2006)
which multiply with a set of coefficients depending on experience and qualifications. The
wage table for the health sector is the same as in any other public sector entities with a
large number of steps and small difference between every two steps which diminish an
important incentive for workers. Besides, as it was found in the above-mentioned survey,
while it takes almost twice as much time to train doctors, they are treated the same as
other public servants, starting at the very first step (coefficient: 2.34) in the public wage
table.
There is a wide range of allowances for health workers which are either fixed or
based on the basic salary. The major allowances include: (1) Professional risk allowance:
ranging from 10 to 40% of basic salary depending on level of risk; (2) Duty benefit: fixed
at 3 levels: 25, 35 and 45 thousands VND/person/duty; (3) Toxic and hazardous working
condition allowance: the multiply of basic salary and coefficient 0.1, 0.2, 03, or 0,4
depending on level of exposure; (4) Epidemic allowance: fixed at either 60 thousand
VND/day for highly dangerous epidemic and 30 thousands/day for seasonal epidemic. By
law, health workers are entitled to regular health check, vacation, training and retraining
but as found in the survey, these are not strictly complied with by hospitals.
3. Initiatives of the health sectoral union in relations to wage and working
conditions
The communication between the sectoral union and local unions varies depending
on whether the latter is a member of the former or not. If it is not, its proposals, if any,
will be received by the local VGCL who, then, consult with the sectoral union. The
feedback, therefore, will be from the VGCL after consultation with the health union. If a
hospital is a registered member of the sectoral union, its union can communicate with the
latter in two ways: first, on regular basis, the local sectoral union hold quarterly meetings
with hospital union leaders to review the situation and update hospital unions with
relevant changes in policies and legislation; second, on adhoc basis, hospital unions can
express their proposals in written form to the sectoral union and the latter may hold
meetings to discuss the issue and/or forward the proposal to the higher level union.
According to our informants both at VGCL and hospitals, the health sectoral
union is not among the more pro-active industrial unions. An VGCL offical commented:
"I dare not make judgement but from my observation for the last 20 years in VGCL, the
5
health union has not proved to be a strong union as it has never made any initiatives
themselves. Most changes in wage and working environment for health workers started
from the health administration (MOH)". Nonetheless, as the procedure requires, the
health union is the official representative to convey proposals from the workers to the
relevant ministries and agencies before any changes are made. For example, the abovementioned survey on “High-risk factors affecting health and life of health workers and
proposals for improvement” was initiated by the MOH in January 2004 due to increasing
complaints from health workers, especially after the explosion of the SARS epidemic.
The health union was invited to coordinate with the survey team in selecting health
institutions for the survey. The survey completed in July 2005. In August 2005, the
survey team, upon the outcome of the survey, made recommendations to the MOH,
MOLISA and the government to improve remuneration (by increasing the MW),
allowances for workers exposed to dangerous and toxic working environment and
provision of sufficient and better quality protective devices. In the same month, the health
union echoed these recommendations by a written proposal to the MOH, MOLISA, the
Government Office, among others requesting for improving working conditions for
health workers on the basis of the factual results of the survey.
6
B. CASE STUDIES
To ensure the representativeness of the research, we conducted interviews in all 3
types of hospitals by ownership: state-run (Bach Mai), foreign-owned (Hanoi French
Hospital) and Vietnamese private (Trang An) hospitals.
1. Overview of the 3 hospitals
Bach Mai Hospital:
Regarded as the largest hospital in the North of Vietnam, Bach Mai was founded in 1911
during the French occupation. After 1954 when Hanoi was liberalised from the French,
the hospital joined the VGCL. At the moment, there are 3,000 employees (including
doctors, nurses, administrators and guards) and more than 2,000 of them are union
members. Since 2001, the hospital has moved from the administration of Hanoi VGCL to
the Hanoi Health Union.
Trang An Hospital:
Trang An General Hospital was founded in 2001, as a part of Medical Technique
Development Company (MEDTECH). Located in Hanoi, it is the first private hospital in
the North of Vietnam. With the workforce of 130 people, the hospital has a number of
specialized faculties. There is a small number of blue collar workers in the hospital (10
people). Most of the employees signed long-term labour contracts with the hospital.
In the executive board, 5 people are retired professors, doctors and managers from
public hospitals and 10 administrative officers were employed as the secretariat of the
board.
Famous for its high quality service and modern technological application, the
hospital also charges much higher fees than the public health service. Together with
Hanoi French Hospital, Trang An is widely regarded as the hospital for the wealthier.
Hanoi French Hospital:
Set up in 1997, the hospital was entitled the International Hospital. It was a jointventure between an Australian company and Bach Mai hospital. On 1 January 2000,
Eukaria S.A, a French company, replaced the Australian in the joint venture and since
September 2000, the hospital became a wholly foreign-owned entity with a new name of
“Hanoi French Hospital”.
7
One hundred percent of Vietnamese staff are trade union members. The 12 nonVietnamese doctors and nurses who are not union members are still invited into
collective TU activities. The Vietnamese staff, whether working under long-term or
short-term contracts are entitled to application to the union.
In the executive board, there are representatives of adminitrative, hotel service,
marketing, midwife and guard divisions. People from the personel division are not
permitted to join the executive.
2. Hospital Union Organisation and Operation
Hanoi Health Union
Hospital Union Executive Board
(15 members)
Faculty Union Executive Boards (46 faculties)
People’s
Inspectorate
Union Members (2,000)
Table 2: Organisational Chart of Bach Mai Hospital Union
Similar to the common practice in the state-owned sector, in Bach Mai, each year,
a union congress is held to elect a union executive committee. As admitted by our
informants in the hospital, the election would be taken place in a big “democratic”
congress but the result is decided “behind the scene”. Since the launch of Doimoi, union
positions have lost the attraction they had during the “gang-of-four”4 era a few decades
ago when a union leader is considered a high-ranking manager him/herself. Now, most of
the union candidates are likely indisposed to accept the positions, some insist to
withdraw. All committee members are part-time unionists. In Bach Mai hospital, the
union executive board includes 15 members (the total membership is 2,000) most of
whom are Party members and faculty leaders (5 of them are faculty heads and the union
Gang of four in an State-owned enterprise contains the management, the union, the women’s union and
the Party.
4
8
chairman is the director of the Microorganism faculty with 20 years’ experience in the
union). Through the eyes of the union members we met, he fulfilled his responsibility
only through paperwork, indifferently to workers’ interests. A member of the union
executive board is assigned to head a people’s inspectorate that oversees the hospital
budget, the service quality and the management’s compliance to the financial master plan
guided by the State.
We also had a small talk with the vice chairman of the hospital union who is also
the deputy director of the Toxic Resistance Centre. He is said to be one of the most
promising young leaders of the hospital. However, through the talk, he showed little
interest in the union activities. He forgot the number of members of the union executive
board and the number of faculty unions in the hospital. He could only provide us with
some VGCL directives that he has to regularly introduce to his members in union
meetings.
Normally, in State-run hospitals, a worker with a long-term labour contract and at
least 3 months’ experience working for the hospital is eligible for application for union
membership. This means that a considerable number of lower-level workers who sign
short-term labour contracts with the hospital are not entitled to union membership
The faculty unions and the hospital union meet three times a year. In these
occasions, the faculty unionists report to the hospital union and receive information about
trade union policies from the latter. Also, faculty union leaders collect their members’
proposals then submit to the hospital-level union leaders in written form. Unfortunately,
no regular channel of discussion or sharing between the Bach mai union and the higherlevel unions (Hanoi health union and the Hanoi VGCL) exists despite the fact that Bach
Mai is the largest hospital in the North. For a few times in a year, executive board
members are invited to awareness-raising workshops held by the higher level unions
where they are provided with information about general union activities, updates of
union-related law and policies. Besides, they have chances to take part in OSH training
courses provided by Ministry of Health.
What we learn from the interviewees in Bach Mai discerns a reality that opposite
to the formal centralized structure, the union hospital is becoming more decentralized
with the initiatives taken by faculty unions. The faculty unions directly recruit new
members. Working with the workers every day, the faculty unionists, who are not
managers, also understand better the concerns of their members. In return, members are
more open to the faculty union leaders than those at hospital level. This is the reason why
almost all positive changes in terms of income and working conditions in the hospital
9
have been initiated by the faculty union leaders (we are returning to this issue in the next
section).
Hoan Kiem District’s VGCL
Trang An Hospital Union Executive
Board (5 members)
Out of 130 staff, 51 are union members, most
of them are the younger ones
Table 3: Organisational Chart of Trang An Hospital Union
Much smaller in size compared to Bach Mai, the union structure of Trang An is
more simple. MEDTECH, the mother company of Trang An, was unionized soon after its
establishment. Consequently, quite a few MEDTECH union members shifted to Trang
An Hospital Union when it was founded in 2001. So far, the number of trade union
members, most of whom are young employees, is 51 out of 130 staff. Senior doctors and
professors, who contribute to the fame of Trang An, do not join the union with the
explanation that being in the union for their whole working life in public hospitals is
enough for them.5
Now the hospital union is subordinate to the Hoan Kiem district union rather than
the Hanoi health union (Trang An is expected to join the health union at the end of this
year)6. There are 5 members in the union executive board and the chairman is the deputy
director of the hospital.
It is interesting to note that though Trang An is a private hospital, it copies the
model of SOE union with little modification. This may be attributed to the fact that most
of the senior members here come from the state-owned sector. The union chairman, for
example, was an army officer before he became the deputy director of Trang An. When
5
These are senior doctors who joined Trang An after their retirement from public hospitals
This is not the case of only Trang An hospital. Normally, when a private company is set up, it is
registered at the local people’s committee. As a result, the newly established entity will be referred to the
local VGCL regarding union activities. This procedure happens quite automatically due to the intimate link
between the people’s committee and the local VGCL. If the hospital wishes to join the health union, they
can apply later.
6
10
asked if he sees a conflict of interest between the two posts he is holding, the union
chairman believed that his position in the management is beneficial for his union work as
he can talk easily to the hospital leadership about workers’ concerns. A union is strong or
not, he claimed, depends more on the person in charge than whether he is a manager or
not.
From what he told us, his personal effort has blurred the line between workers and
managers. He is close to the workers, listening to and understanding their concerns. At
the same time he is directly involved in every-day management work, through which he
fulfills his mandates in both union and management fields. He imperceptibly plays as an
intermediary supporting the communication between workers and employers.
There is no CBA in the hospital. However, to improve the income of workers, the
union chairman initiated a quasi-CBA program in which the staff of each faculty would
sign an agreement with the hospital management. According to this agreement, a
minimum target of productivity is set for the faculty. If the staff can not surpass this
target, the hospital ensures a fixed minimum wage for them. If their productivity is higher
than the target, they take all the surpassed revenue. With this initiative, a staff may earn
as much as VND 8 million/month instead of the average rate of VND 4 – 5
million/month. The union chairman believed that over 50 percent of his staff is satisfied
with this policy.
Nonetheless, as we talked to the staff there, many claimed that they have never
seen the above-mentioned agreement and not all of them support the initiative.
Hanoi Health Sectoral Union
Hanoi French Hospital Union Executive
Board (6 members)
237 Union Members (100% of Vietnamese staff)
Table 4: Organisational Chart of Hanoi French Hospital
As said earlier, the Hanoi French Hospital, since 2000, has become a wholly
foreign-owned entity belonging to a French company. The union, however, remains
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almost the same since its establishment as a joint-venture between an Australian company
and Bach Mai hospital in 1997. In 1998, the union signed a CBA with the management
board (see Annex 3). Until now, however, this CBA remains valid as the framework for
the two parties despite the change of ownership. Union election is held every three years
with the participation of all the union members. The chairman is often selected among the
doctors. The present union executive board include one doctor as the chairman, two
deputies from the guard and midwife divisions, and three other members from the hotel
service, marketing and finance departments. Albeit subordinate to the Hanoi Health
Sectoral Union, it seems that the Hanoi French Hospital does not maintain any tangible
link with its higher-level union. This is evidenced by the fact that none of our informants
could name an activity supported by the higher level union.
We conducted two interviews in Hanoi French Hospital: one with the union leader
and the other with an HR officer.
Our interview with the union leader of the Hospital, Dr. S, was one of the least
informative talks we had ever had in our study of the 3 hospitals. When asked about his
personal thought of union work, the union leader bluntly stated that he had nothing to do
with the work. He added that since he is employed and paid by the hospital owners, he
could not do anything against their direction. Also in such a foreign-invested hospital,
wage and working conditions are much better than other hospitals in Vietnam; thus,
workers do not need help from the union. He is going to resign next year to further focus
on his professional work for higher income, rather than wasting time in “petty” trade
union-related pieces of work.
According to Mr. S, the process of union election is purely a formality and no one
seems to be interested in being elected. Mr. S, for example, was elected though he did not
attend the workers’ congress. When all of the candidates at the congress refuse the post of
hospital union leader, the congress chose him, a person absent from the meeting. Mr. S,
therefore, accepted the post in an understandably uncomfortable manner. This has, in
turn, severely affected his attitude to the union job. During his tenure, there were few
union activities, even the traditional ones such as visits at members’ weddings and
funerals, organisation of entertainment etc.
The talk with Ms. M, HR officer, was a remarkable contrast to what we learnt
from Mr. S. She provided us with the hospital collective bargaining agreement (which
Mr. S could not) and details about the union work in the hospital (for example, the union
structure and organisation – which Mr. S was either not able or not interested in
providing us).
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Also according to Ms. M, the average salary of the hospital staff is
USD297/month (compared to the MW in the foreign sector of USD50/month) with the
highest rate (for doctors) of USD 800/month and lowest (for manual workers) of
USD115/month. Apart from the mentioned CBA, there are also a hospital work rule and a
staff’s manual which explain rights and responsibilities of the workers here.
Based on the CBA and staff’s manual as well as what we learnt from Ms. M and
our own observation, the working conditions here seem to be the best among all three
studied hospitals. All staff are provided with clean uniforms, masks, and other protective
devices. They also enjoy a air-conditioned canteen, frequent training, lunch subsidy and
special health insurance (regarding occupational risks and work-related accidents).
Despite the high level of wages and working conditions in the last hospital, the
level of union ability here is nothing better or even worse than the union in the other two
with the union playing no substantial role in the hospital. The industrial relations remain
good probably because the hospital is able to maintain a good working conditions for all
its staff.
2.3. Relations with the Management, Workers and the Higher level Union
For the case of Bach Mai, we would separate our analysis of the hospital union
from the faculty unions since we identify remarkable differences between the two.
From what we learn in Bach Mai, the hospital union seems to be a part of the
management itself. Every month, the union meets with the management to discuss human
management issues and other matters related to the general operation of the hospital. In
these meetings, the hospital union leaders are supposed to present the proposals and
concerns of workers to the management. In fact, these proposals rarely concern wage and
working conditions7. Apart from the proposals of the union, the management also has
their own policy to improve the income of the workers basing on the hospital revenue, for
example: bonus for keen workers. Therefore, it is difficult to point out the real impacts of
the hospital union on the wages and conditions of workers in Bach Mai.
The hospital union has even less time for their members. Normally, apart from
regular meetings held 3 times a year, they are supposed to talk to faculty union leaders if
any problem emerges and at the latter request. But this has rarely been practiced
according to our informants. The only occasion for them to meet directly with the grass
7
According to the interviewed manager of Bach Mai, the managers know well that the hospital unionists
detach themselves from the workers at grassroot level, thus they do not pay much attention to their
proposals
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root members is the annual workers’ congress. Therefore, while union members would
know who is their faculty union chairperson, not all of them can tell the name of the
hospital union chairman.
The faculty unions’ attitude towards members’ interests, however, present an
encouraging contrast to the indifference of their supervisor. Due to a stereotype of the
union fixed during the centrally-planned period, union work, for most workers here,
means “trivial things8” such as preparing presents for members’ weddings or funerals,
organising exhibitions and entertainment activities etc. Therefore, at the faculty level, the
post of union chairperson is often left for non-management members who are often
experienced female staff (while almost all union leaders at hospital level are male
managers of various faculties since these posts are considered a supporting step to a
higher political position). With intimate understanding of problems facing the workers
and close relationship with the staff, these union leaders are turning from “old-style”
unionists into real advocates for workers’ interests. We talked to two chairwomen of two
faculties in Bach Mai who were willing to talk for hours about the positive changes they
helped make and their future plan for even more reforms. For example, as mentioned
earlier, only the staff with permanent labour contracts are eligible to join the union. As a
result of this policy, a number of lower-level staff with a number of short-term contracts
who have been actually working in the hospital for a long time can not join the union and
have no official channel to convey their concerns to the management. The union
chairwomen collected support from the members then managed to persuade the hospital
union to allow all staff in their faculties who has at least 6 months’ experience to apply
for union membership.
In another faculty, the union executive board initiated different ways to improve
the income of their staff. For instance, they organise off-hospital visits of their doctors
and nurses to nearby provinces or send staff as visiting teachers to seminars, workshops
and colleges.
Recognizing that staff working night shift are overloaded with too many patients
at night, the union in several faculties proposed to the management to increase the
number of doctors and nurses for one night shift and arrange a flexible shift schedule to
move more staff to the busier shifts.
Faculty unions in Bach Mai also ally with one another to fight for better working
conditions. In a recent case, all faculty union leaders are working together to propose the
provision of experience allowance (by the Ministry of Health) for all the staff. According
8
Words used by one of our informants
14
to our informants, this proposal has been passed upward to the higher level union but the
result is yet unknown.
As said in the last part, there are few interactions between Bach Mai unions (both
hospital and faculty level) and the higher level union (in this case, the Hanoi health
union) except for participation in some training and awareness-raising courses which are,
in fact, dedicated to passing down the policies of the VGCL.
In Trang An, we have the impression that the union work is mainly carried out by
a single person – Mr. N, the union chairman and deputy director of the hospital. And he
has his own “theory” of the union work, which we find characteristical of union leaders
who come from the management. Mr. N had a straight talk with us about his effort in
representing workers’ rights at work. He emphasized that the enterprise/employer’s
interests should come higher than those of workers on the enterprise agenda. Workers
could hardly enjoy decent work if the enterprise fails to get high profit. The two parties
should work hand in hand for mutual benefits, he added, which is the reason why he must
be committed to his work in both positions.
He seems to get certain success with this “twin-goal” motto. In his dual mandate,
he focuses more on HR management and income generation for the staff. With regard to
the long-term vision, he encourages the younger staff (junior doctors among 51 young
union members) to pursue higher education with a belief that they will get back to Trang
An with better capacity after that. For the matter of income, he deals with a number of
“special” policies that come from the real need for keeping talented workers of an
independent and market-based enterprise and from the higher productivity and service
quality of the entire hospital (please see section 2.2 for further information).
It seems to us that N has been mixing his two portfolios together, working more
as a HR officer than a union leader. This is understandable since with two hats on his
head, it is difficult to tell when he is performing as a manager and when he acts as a
union leader. He himself asserted that “the hat of a manager seems more helpful to me
because we have only a half of staff being union members, and through the eyes of our
staff, their concern is inclined to proffessional work for higher income, rather than to
little benefits they get from TU initiatives”. Though this model of HR manager-union
leader seems to benefit the employer, it deprives from workers the opportunity to have a
real representative. A possible reason for its existence is that the private sector in
Vietnam particularly that in the health sector remains at its infantry, so labour movement
here is still under-developed. With better wages and working conditions compared to the
public hospitals, workers in private hospitals like Trang An are satisfied with their jobs,
thus having little motivation to find real union leaders. Yet, the example in Bach Mai
15
faculty unions shows that as soon as workers become dissatisfied with their working
conditions and pay, they will opt for real representatives who can help them fight for
better benefits.
At the moment, unfortunately, the particularly problem of weak representation
mentioned above has not been realized by Mr. N himself and most of other managementunionists as well as high-ranking VGCL officials. In a recent tripartite roundtable
meeting (March 2006) held by the ILO, the opinions and explanations raised by most
VGCL officials discern the fact that they do not see it as problematic at all (see the Box
below). Yet, the negative attitude of workers towards these management union leaders
would prevent the latter and the employers from forecasting problems in industrial
relations at workplace, which may result in unexpected industrial actions.
HR managers are often trade union ‘leaders’
It was noted by many participants (in the tripartite roundtable meeting), including the VGCL
representatives, that trade union leaders at the enterprise level were often HR managers or
managerial staff. Explanations were given by VGCL officials on why so many human
resource managers (or other managerial staff) are trade union leaders: “Trade union tasks take
a lot of time. That is why administrative staff are appointed as trade union leaders”; “It is
better to have managerial staff as union leaders, because they can communicate directly with
the employers”; “We need a person who can bridge between managers and employees. That is
why you appoint HR managers who know workers as well as employers”; “when VGCL
establish a provisional trade union committee in a newly established company, we lack
information about the people in the company. Therefore, we approach HR managers who
must know workers better than anybody else.”, and; “Most workers are not willing to run for
the union election. Therefore, we continue to have HR managers as trade union leaders”.
Workers see trade union ‘leaders’ more aligned with employers than workers
An employers’ representative complained that union leaders were not close to their members
so that union leaders could not convey concerns of workers to employers. Also, a government
official observed that workers tended to consider ‘trade union leaders’ not as their
representative but as a part of the management, because union leaders in many companies
are often human resource managers. This explains also why unionization rate is so low,
according to her, because workers do not see benefits of the trade unions – for their own
benefit, workers would take a shortcut of wildcat strike.
(Extract from the Minutes of Tripartite Roundtable Meeting in March 2006, provided by ILO
Hanoi)
At the Hanoi French Hospital, after our interview with the union leader, Mr. S,
who provided us little information with an unwelcome attitude, we turned to some union
members. A female doctor at the maternity faculty complained to us that her office is
opposite the X-ray room and she feared that she might be badly affected working there.
We asked whether she talked to the union about this problem, she said she had not and
did not have the intention to talk to the union since she knows well that they would not
16
“lift a finger” to help. Rather, she would make an official complaint to the hospital
management. In other talks with the staff here, we found a similar attitude toward the
union and none of them could tell us any activity organized by the union they had ever
taken part in.
17
C. COMMENTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
1 – From a birdview, hospital union in Hanoi has not undergone a lot of changes despite
the sector’s remarkable reforms in recent years and recent industrial actions in the labourintensive industries. The union in this sector, state-owned, private and foreign-owned
alike, remains management-union like in the centrally-planned economy. Union leaders
work more as an HR manager than real workers’ representatives and the truth is that most
of them play important part in the hospital management.
2 – The health sectoral unions at provincial and national level do not provide much
support, technical or financial, to the hospital unions. The link with the sectoral union of
these hospitals is confined to participation in one-way information-dissemination
activities.
3 – A finding opposite to our expectation is that the unions of non-public hospitals are not
strong, even less dynamic than those in the state-owned. The reason might be the better
wages and working conditions in the non-public health sector and the fact that this sector
has not been operating for a long time (the oldest in Vietnam was established 10 years
ago). The workers in this sector, therefore, remain relatively satisfied with their
conditions; thus giving little stimulus for more active union activities.
4 – In line with Finding 3, it seems that the union in hospitals where working conditions
and wages are worse would be more active. The best example is faculty unions in Bach
Mai Hospital. Famous as one of the largest public hospitals in Vietnam which provide
health services to mostly poor patients in the North, Bach Mai is usually overloaded with
patients paid by national health insurance fund (at very low rates) can hardly provide
decent working conditions for their staff. Additionally, basic salaries of health workers
here, which remain very low, are determined by the State. These hardships, however,
bring motivation to unionists at grass root level who are closer to the workers. Despite the
fact that health workers can not negotiate wages with employers, these union leaders are
finding other creative ways to support their members. Although their efforts have not
been able to address all the problems of health workers, they are actively working as real
workers’ representatives. Unfortunately, the momentum of these grassroot union leaders
has not been passed upward to the higher-level union.
18
 The above findings, especially the final one, encourage us to continue our study of
union in the hospital in the future. We wish to see how influential the faculty union in the
public sector will become and whether unions in the non-public hospitals will get more
active. Also, we would like to find out how the rapid changes in industrial relations of
other industries influence the sectoral union at various levels. To accede to the WTO,
Vietnam has committed to open more the health service market to foreign companies.
Therefore, it is expected that the health sector of Vietnam as well as the union in the
sector, will face with a lot of changes in the near future.
19
ANNEX 1
The team visited 4 hospitals, including Bach Mai, Viet-Duc (public hospitals);
Vietnamese-France hospital (join-venture) and Trang An General Hospital (domestic
private hospital).
Timeframe of interviews
Timing
hospital
Interviewee
rellavant info
1
27 May Bach Mai
2006
15 June
2006
2 July
2006
Ms. Le
senior
doctor,
Faculty
2
25 June Bach Mai
2006
Mr. Nguyen Kim Son, Vice president, Hospital union
Dean
of (14-year seniority in faculty union;
Microorganizm Centre 1-year seniority in hospital union)
3
10 June Bach Mai
2006
Ms. Nguyen Van Anh, Faculty union
Senior
doctor, leader (8-year seniority)
Respiratory faculty
4
4 July Hanoi
2006
French
Mr. Nguyen Van Son,
5
10 July Trang
2006
6
General
Hospital
Thi Hoan, Faculty trade union leader
paediatrics (10-year seniority)
Paediatrics
Hospital union leader
(5-year seniority)
An Mr. Tran Nghiep, Vice Hospital union leader
President, MEDTECH (5-year seniority)
company and Trang An
hospital
16 July Trang An Ms. Nguyen Thi Trang, 1-year working experience
2006
General
newly-employed
Hospital
doctor,
20
ANNEX 2
QUESTIONS FOR IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS
The researchers are encouraged to provide more details and adjustments, if necessary,
beyond this outline to make their reports more informative.
Part 1: Description of the entity
The researcher should provide a clear description of the company/hospital in question
including:
- Business brand, location, date of establishment (and further details if available)
- Size in terms of workforce or capital, the number of faculties (for hospitals) and
factories (for companies)
- Type of ownership (private, FDI, public, foreign-invested)
- Business line
- Work organisation (Production chains or workshops for example)
- Management structure (if possible the nationality of managers and top director)
- Workforce: number of white collar and blue collar workers? (or doctors+nurses
vs. other workers in hospitals)
- Brief introduction of wage and working conditions
Part 2: Union Organisation and Operation
- Is there an official union in the entity? If yes, when it was established? If no, are
there workers’ representatives who unofficially represent all or a group of
workers in the entity?
(Assuming that the entity in question is unionized, pls go on with the following
questions):
- Is the union provisional or elected? How was the current union elected? How
many members are there in the executive committee of the union?
- What is the level of the union? Factory, workshop, company, faculty or hospital
union? How many union members are there in the entity and proportion over the
whole work force? How it is structured?
- What are the official positions of the union chairman and other members of the
executive committee? (How many of them are managers, how many are office
workers, how many are manual workers?). If they are managers, do they feel a
conflict of interest working both as manager and unionist at the same time?
- What are the regular activities of the union?
- What are their sources of funding? From the union fees? Contribution of the
management? Or any other sources?
- Do they have any specific policy or activities for recruitment? How do they
recruit new members?
- Have the union signed any collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the
management? If no, why not and do they have the intention to? If yes, ask for the
content of the CBA (if you can get a copy, it would be perfect)? Who drafted the
21
CBA? How workers were consulted during the drafting and negotiation of that
CBA?
- Apart from the CBA, have the union ever negotiated any agreement with the
management (especially regarding wage and working conditions)?
If the entity is not unionised or if it is unionised but “black leaders” exist, pls ask:
- How were the black leaders elected? Who elected them? Do the management
know about their existence? Is the black leader a woman or a man? A brief
description of the guy if possible?
- What is the attitude of the management and the union chairman to the black
leaders?
- How does the black leader consult the workers? How does s/he negotiate with the
management?
Part 3: Relations with the management, workers and the higher level union
With the management:
- How often do the union chairman meet with the management? What do they often
talk about? And the outcome?
- What is the attitude of the management toward the union and workers’ concerns?
- Do the management allow the union chairman to spend more time on union
activities? Any obstacles to the union created by the management?
- Do they apply any CSR practices in the entity? Outcome so far?
- Has there been any strike or dispute in the entity before? If yes, how it happened
(pls provide as many details as possible)? How it ended? Is the union satisfied
with the solution? Are the management satisfied? Are the workers satisfied?
With the workers:
- Do workers often approach the union chairman to express their concerns? How
the union respond to those complaints or concerns?
- How often the union meet with workers, both formally and informally? Do the
interviewee feel that the union is trusted by workers?
- If there was a dispute/strike, who represented workers to negotiate with the
employer? The union chairman or a worker’s representative?
With the higher level union:
- What is the higher level union of the union in question? Industrial union or
provincial union?
- How often the officials from higher level union meet with the local union? In
what ways? (they visit the entity or organise meetings with the local union?)
- Have the entity union received any support (financial, technical, advice etc.) from
the higher level union?
- When disputes occurred, was the higher level union involved in settlement effort?
Part 4: Impacts on wage and working conditions
- Have the union, workers or workers’ representatives tried in any way to improve
the wages and working conditions in the entity?
- Do they have any plan to do so in the future? Pls provide details?
- Are they currently involved in any project, program or initiatives to improve
wages and working conditions?
Part 5: Comments
22
-
-
Pls provide your evaluation of the union activities in the entity. What do you think
are their problems and advantages?
Other comments?
23
ANNEX 3
VIET NAM INTERNATIONAL HOSPITAL
COLLECTIVE LABOUR AGREEMENT
This Collective Labor Agreement (“Agreement”) is made in Hanoi on the [
]1998 by and between:
1. THE EMPLOYER
BACH MAI HA NOI INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CENTRE JOINT
VENTURE, trading under its official short name “ VIET NAM
INTERNATIONAL HOSPITAL”
 Investment Licence No 1505/ GP
 Date of Issue 8 March 1996
 Address: Phuong Mai Road, Phuong Mai Quarter
 Dong Da District, Hanoi
 Telephone Number: (04) 5740 740
 Represented By: Mrs. Ann Mitchell
 Position: General Director
Hereinafter referred to as “the employer” or as “VNIH”
2. THE EMPLOYEES OF VIET NAM INTERNATIONAL HOSPITAL
 Represented By: Dr. Nguyen Thi Kim Loan
 Position : Chairwoman of Employee’s Representatives Committee
Hereinafter referred to as “the employees”
This Collective Labour Agreement has been agreed upon by the two parties subject
to the following Articles and Appendices:
Article 1: General Provisions
1.1 Appointment of Employee’s Representative
1.2 Employer’s Representative
1.3 Meetings
1.4 General Conditions
Article 2: Recruitment and Employment Contract
2.1. Qualifications for Recruitment
24
2.2. Probation period
2.3. Termination of Employment Contract
Article 3: Working Hours and leave Entitlements
3.1. Working Hours
3.2. Leave Entitlements
Article 4: Salary and Allowances
4.1. Salary Structure
4.2. Salary Deductions
4.3. Payment of Standard Salaries and Allowances
4.4. Payment of Overtime
4.5. Payment of Bonuses
4.6. Criteria for Bonus Payment, Promotion and Salary Review
Article 5: Occupational Safety and Collective Welfare
5.1. Occupational Safety
5.2. Social and Health Insurance
5.3. Health care
5.4. Uniforms
5.5. Transportation
5.6. Training
Article 6: Labor Disputes
6.1. Reporting and Resolution of Labor Disputes
6.2. Right to Strike
Article 7: Revisions and Amendments
Article 8: Implementation
Appendix A: Working Rules and Regulations of Viet Nam International
Hospital
25
ARTICLE 1: GENERAL PROVISIONS
1.1 Appointment of Employees Representative
a. Employees Representative Committee – Trade Union Committee
 A Representative Committee of the employees of VNIH - Trade Union
Committee has been duly elected by a ballot of all employees of VNIH in
accordance with prevailing labor regulations.
 The Representative Committee is appointed for a term of two years being
the term of this Agreement.
b. Employee’s Representative
 The members of the Representative Committee have elected one of their
number to act as Chief of the Board. The Chief of the Board acts as the
employees’ representative for the purposes of this Agreement.

The employees’ representative and the other members of the Representative
Committee are responsible for ensuring that employees are aware of and
understand the terms of this Agreement.
c. Notification to Employer
 The employer has been advised of the above appointments and will be
further advised if any changes are made due to termination of the
employment contract of any member of the Committee.
1.2. Employer’s Representative
 The General Director of the Company has been appointed by the Board of
Management of VNIH to represent the employer in agreeing the terms of
this Agreement.

The General Director has the consent of the Board of Management to
nominate another person (at the sole discretion of the General Director) to
represent him/her in meetings as defined in Article 1.3 below.
 Hereinafter, either the General Director or his/ her nominee is referred to as
“the employer’s representative”.
1.3. Meetings
a. The employer’s representative and the employees’ representative will hold
meetings at least once a month to discuss any matters arising in relation to the
terms of this Agreement.
b. The purposes of the meeting are:
 to allow the employees to bring to the attention of the employer any action by
the employer that they consider to be in breach of the terms of this Agreement
 to allow the employer to bring to the attention of the employees’
representative any breach of the terms of this Agreement by any of the
employees.
 to discuss any and agree action to be taken to remedy any breach.
 to discuss any other matter concerning labor conditions and,
 to review the terms of this Agreement in light of any changes in legislation.
1.4. General conditions
26
a. The employer acknowledges the rights of employees to join a trade union and the
freedom of such trade unions to carry on their activities.
b. The employer is committed to providing favorable working conditions for its
employees and ensuring the rights of employees and the employees’
Representative Committee.
c. The employees acknowledge that VNIH is providing an essential emergency
service to the Hanoi community and that this service is one on which the lives
and well being of community members will depend. As such, the employees
recognize that the performance of their duties requires a high level of skill,
dedication and attention to stipulated standard and, in certain cases, longer
working hours.
ARTICLE 2: RECRUITMENT AND EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT
2.1. Qualifications for Recruitment
a. Employees must be at least 18 years of age.
b. Applicants for employment are required to submit the following papers:
 Curriculum Vitae (CV)
 Completed Application form
 Academic and Professional Certificates (originals or certified copies)
 Two (2) photographs (4cm x 6cm) taken within the last 6 months
 A copy of Address Registration and other certificates (if any) required by the
employer
 Labor Book (if any)
c. The employer will organize a health examination including a blood test for all
applicants. All expenses related to the examination are covered by the employer.
Applicants who do not pass VNIH’s health test requirements can not be employed.
2.2. Probation Period
a. As stated in Regulation 198/CP, all applicants will initially be employed subject to a
probation period of:
 60 days for staff in positions that require a University Degree, College
Degree or Postgraduate Degree
 30 days for staff in positions that do not require a University Degree
 Due to the unique nature of International Hospital that require well-trained
staff in all positions, there is no probation period for 6 days.
b. Within the probation period:
 The employee will be paid at least 70% of the basic monthly salary agreed
by him/her and the employer
 If the employee is absent from work without the permission of his/her
immediate superior, a salary deduction will be made based on the number of
days absent and the employment probation contract can be terminated
without notice and without the payment of severance allowance
27
c. If, at the end of the probation period, the employee has proven his/her qualification
suitable for his/ her designated position, employment will be confirmed and the
employee will receive the full salary and benefits detailed in his/her individual
employment contract.
d. If, at the end of the probation period, the employee has not performed sufficiently
well for continued employment to be confirmed the employer may not accept the
employee to work without notice and without payment of severance allowance.
2.3. Termination of Employment Contract
a.
Resignation
An Employee may tender his/her resignation by notice in writing to the employer as per
the notice period defined in clause 37 of the Labor Code. The employer may accept the
resignation by:

retaining the service of the employee until the end of the notice period and
making full payment of all salaries and allowances up to the termination
date; or
 requesting the employee to leave immediately and paying standard salary
and allowances covering the notice period in lieu of notice.
An employee who has received specific job training from the employer and resigns
within two years of completion of said training will be required to compensate the
company for the cost of training (including any travel cost) as agreed by the employer
and the employee in the training contract, such agreement forming part of the
employee’s individual employment contract.
b.
Retirement
 Employees must retire from the Company’s service at the end of the month
in which they attain the age of 60 for males and 55 for females (Details are
as determined in Regulation 12/CP)
 At the employer’s request and with employee’s agreement, the retirement
age may be extended annually for a maximum of 5 years.
 The severance pay provisions related to mandatory retirement (see below)
will apply when the employee’s contract is finally terminated.
c.
Termination with Severance pay
As determined in Article 10, Regulation 198/CP
In these circumstances, the employer will pay to the employee a severance allowance as
follows:
 Where the employee has completed one year or more service – one half of
one month’s salary and allowances for each year.
d. Termination without Severance pay
The employer may terminate an employee’s personal employment contract in
accordance with any reason of disciplinary measures that leads to Immediate Dismissal
as defined in Article 85 of the Labor Code.
e. Death or reduction of 81% or more of labor capacity (as stated in Clause 107,
Labor Law)
The labour contract is automatically terminated in the event of the death of the
employee.
28
If the death or reduction of 81% or more of labor capacity of the employee is as a result
of a work – related accident which was not caused by the fault of the employee, the
employer will pay to the relatives of the employee or to the employee compensation
equal to 30 months salary; or, if the employee was at fault, 12 months salary.
f.
Notice Period for unilateral termination of Labor Contract
The period of notice required to be given by either party in any circumstances of labor
contract termination is determined based on Articles 37 and 38 of the Labor Code of
Vietnam.
g.
Term of Payment on termination
The employee will be paid all monies owing in respect of salary and allowances up to
the date of termination, compensation for annual leave days not take (provided no
previous payment in lieu of those days has been made) and any severance pay that may
be applicable within 7 working days of the date of termination
h.
Obligations on termination
The employee must deliver to the person appointed by the employer all documents,
tools, equipment, uniform and other property of the employer on the date of termination
or expiry of the labour contract. The employee shall compensate the employer for lost
or damaged property at prevailing market prices.
ARTICLE 3: WORKING HOURS AND LEAVE ENTITLEMENTS
3.1. Working Hours
a. The nature of the services provided by VNIH (refer article 1.4. (c)) requires VNIH
to operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. As a result, employees acknowledge a
normal working week may include rostered night duty and rostered duty or
overtime on Sundays or public holidays. Employees may be asked, and with their
agreement to work additional hours if the work load of their department so requires.
However, additional hours per day do not excess 4 hours/day and 200 hours/year.
b. Normal working hours in normal conditions are 8 hours per day (including meal
break if work shift, excluding meal break if not work shift), six days per week, with
the exception of rostered night shift when employees are required to work a 10 hour
day (including meal breaks). The times at which these working hours apply to each
employee are defined in the employment contracts.
 The employee must have average minimum 4.33 days off per month or 52 days
off per year.
 Total maximum working hours are 208 hours/month.
 In departments that require staff to work night shift , staff with the same
position title must work an equal number of hours of with the exception only of
people who volunteer to work at night.
 Working hours will be changed if a new law is brought in by Vietnamese
Government.
c. A meal break of not less than 30 minutes will be given during the period employees
are at work. The length of time for which meal breaks apply to each employee are
defined in the employment contract.
29
d. Female employees under indefinite or definite contracts are entitled to one
additional hour off every day from the 7th month of pregnancy until the child is one
year old.
e. Working timetable will be arranged reasonably, based on the workload of each
department, in order that employees are not required to work more than 5 hours
consecutively.
f. Employees share the responsibility with management for ensuring that the work of
VNIH is at all times completed in a timely, efficient and correct manner. Employees
may volunteer to undertake additional duties at any time they deem them necessary
to ensure the smooth running of their department.
g. From time to time , skilled staff will be required to perform duties related to the
holding of education or promotional functions, which will generally take place
outside normal working hours.
3.2. Leave Entitlements
a.
Weekly Holidays
All employees will be given one day off per week. If the employee agrees to work on
the weekly day off, the employer will
 Grant an alternate day off, and 100% day salary
 If this is not possible, make payment for the day works in accordance with
the provisions of this Agreement, namely 200% day salary
b.
Public Holidays
Employees are entitled to full pay for the following public holidays:
 Western New Year: 1 day- 1st January

Tet (the Lunar New Year): 4 days –(the last day of the passing year and 3
first three days of the new year)
 Victory Day: 1 day – 30 April
 Labor Day: 1day - 1st May
 National Day: 1day – 2nd September
In the event that any of these official holidays fall on an employee’s weekly day off,
a working day will be given in lieu in the following day.
If an employee is rostered on a shift falling on a public holiday and he/she is
negotiated to work, he/she is entitled to full pay for that public holiday day and will
be paid in accordance with the provisions for overtime detailed in this agreement
(200% 1 day salary or 1 day off in lieu plus 100% 1 day salary).
c.
Annual Leave
 For each period of 12 months service, employees working by shift in
hazardous working conditions and environment are entitled to 14 days and
employees working in normal working condition and environment are
entitled to 12 days of fully paid leave each year in addition to public
holidays (Time calculated from commencement date).
 Leave may be taken in one or more periods by agreement between the
parties.
30

Leave must be applied for and approved in advance so that the employer can
make suitable arrangements for temporary staff.
 The employer shall not unreasonably deny the requested timing of leave.
 Annual leave must be approved and taken within six month of the full
accrual of each year’s entitlement unless both parties agree to a deferral.
 If an employee does not use up his/her annual leave entitlement, he/she can
be paid the normal wage in lieu of the days not taken but only by approval
of the employer.
d. Sick leave
 Apart from sick leave that will be paid by the Social Insurance Fund
determined in Regulation 12/CP, the employer will pay full salary for up to
6 days sick leave per year effective once payment from the Social Insurance
Fund has been used. Entitlement to sick leave not taken will accrue from
year to year and accrued sick leave benefits may be paid out on termination
for employees with indefinite or definite contracts.
 If an employee has more than 2 days consecutive absence from work due to
illness, he/she must produce a Doctor’s Certificate. If a doctor’s certificate is
not produced as evidence of illness, the day absent will be deemed to be part
of the employee’s annual leave entitlement.
 Employees are required to notify their immediate supervisor at least 2 hours
prior to the commencement of work if they will be unable to work that day
due to sickness or injury.
e. Maternity Leave
 Female employees agree that they will only take maternity leave after they
have completed at least one year’s employment with VNIH.
 In accordance with labour laws, female employees who work in normal
working conditions and environment are entitled to unpaid maternity leave
of 4 calendar months but at least 8 weeks of that leave must be taken after
the birth.
 During the period of maternity leave, the employee is only entitled to
maternity benefits payable by the Social Insurance Fund.
 If after this period of maternity leave the employee supplies a doctor’s
certificate stating that, for medical reasons, she is unable to return to work,
additional leave may be granted subject to the approval of the employer to a
maximum of 90 days without any salary or allowance.
 Application for maternity leave must be made at least 4 months in advance
to the General Director.
f. Personal Leave and leave Without Pay
As per Article 78 of the Labor Code, employees are entitled to fully paid personal
leave in the following circumstances:
 Marriage: 3 days
 Marriage of Children: 1 day
 Death of Spouse, Parent, Child, Spouse’s parent: 3 days
31
Leave without pay will only be granted in extreme circumstances and must be
approved by the General Director.
ARTICLE 4: SALARY AND ALLOWANCES
4.1. Salary Structure
The employer will determine, in consultation with the employee’s representatives, a
salary system that ensures all employees are appropriately rewarded on an equitable
basis for their skills and efforts. This structure will be applied to all employees but
the determination of the application of any part of the system to an individual
employee will be solely at the discretion of the employer. The basic salary structure
for all employees includes an allowance for shift work.
4.2. Salary Deductions
a. All salaries and allowances etc as stated in individual employment contracts will
be gross figures (i.e. inclusive of tax and social insurance amounts).
b. The employee is responsible for payment of all appropriate tax, social insurance
and medical insurance amounts to the relevant government authorities and the
employer will represent the employee to make these payment and deduct same
from the employee’s gross salary.
c. The employer will not make any irregular deductions from an employee’s salary
without notifying the Trade Union Committee and also notifying the employee of
any such deduction to be made
d. The employer will not make deductions from salaries as a means of imposing
fines or penalties unless in accordance with the labour laws of Vietnam.
4.3. Payment of Standard Salaries and Allowances
a. Standard salary refers to the principle gross salary amount quoted in employee’s
individual employment contracts or any increase of that amount notified to the
employee during the period of employment.
b. All salaries and allowances will be quoted on a monthly basis and all payments
will be made on a monthly basis, in arrears.
c. Date of payment is the 1st day of the following month, or if the 1st falls on a
Sunday or public holiday, the preceding working day.
d. All salaries and allowances will be quoted in US dollars and all payments will be
made in Viet Nam Dong at the most recent exchange rate stipulated by the State
Bank of Vietnam. If allowed under the laws of Vietnam, the denomination of all
salaries and allowances in the labour contracts of employees will be converted
into Vietnam Dong based on the official conversion rate quoted by the State Bank
of Vietnam as at the effective date of any law allowing for the salaries and
allowances of employees to be so denominated in Vietnam Dong.
4.4. Payment of Overtime
a. Generally, if employees are requested and negotiated to work overtime by
Immediate Manager, he/she will be paid (as stated in the below “d” item) for
hours extra of normal working hours in that day.
b. Eligible employees will be entitled to either payment at an agreed hourly rate or
agreed time off for any overtime worked.
32
c. Payment for overtime worked will be made on the first pay day following the
day the overtime was worked. Equivalent time off can be taken at any time as
agreed between the employee and his/her immediate supervisor.
d. Any overtime hours worked will be paid at the employee’s standard hourly rate
e. The standard hourly rate is calculated as follows:
1 overtime hour in normal working day = month salary/26 days/8 hours x 150%
1 overtime hour in day off or public holiday = month salary/26 days/8 hours x
200%
Overtime can be paid by time off given in lieu at the same above rate.
1 overtime hour in normal working day = 1.5 hour off
1 overtime hour in day off or public holiday = 2 hours off
4.5. Payment of Bonuses
a. Employees may become entitled to be considered for bonus payments subject to
satisfactory completion of their probation period and other criteria listed in Article
4.6.
b. Any bonus payable will be paid only after one year’s service.
c. All employees will have an opportunity to be paid to one additional month’s net
salary each year on Lunar New Year Occasion as bonuses based on each
employee’s performance against the criteria listed in article 4.6, adequate
profitability of VNIH, and as determined by the Board of Management VNIH
through the General Director.
4.6. Criteria for Bonus Payment, Promotion and Salary Review
The employer will implement a system of work performance assessment in order to
provide a means of determining, for each employee, their
 Experience and qualification in the position
 Proficiency in performing current duties
 Communication in English and another language
 Achievement of job responsibilities
 Commitment to train staff (if applicable)
 Courtesy and cooperation with fellow workers
 Achievement of company expectation e.g. improve saving and reduce waste
 Improvement in efficiency and safety
These criteria, in addition to adequate profitability of VNIH, will form the basic of
decision on salary reviews, payment of bonuses and promotion.
ARTICLE 5: OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND COLLECTIVE WELFARE
5.1 Occupational Safety
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
The employer will implement all reasonable measures to ensure that the
employees are not exposed to any safety or health hazards at the work site, to
guide and to train staff in safety and hygiene regulations.
 The employer takes responsibility for the appropriate maintenance of
equipment at VNIH and for any accident that is caused due to failure to meets
this responsibility.
 The employer will bear the cost of all medical expenses in respect of any
employee who, through no fault of his/her own, is injured in a work related
accident. The employer receives the right to nominate the medical services
provider.
5.2. Social and Health insurance
In addition to the net salary, allowances and bonuses paid to employees, the employer
will make contributions on behalf of all employees for social and health insurance in
accordance with the prevailing labour regulations and labor contract.
5.3. Health Care
a. Employees will submit accounts or receipts for doctor’s fees, hospital bills,
medicines to the employer for reimbursement either from the Health Insurance
Fund or when this cost is payable by the employer, directly by the employer.
b. The employer organizes for employees to have a full medical examination each year
at the cost of employer.
5.4 Uniforms
a. Where the employer requires employees to wear a specific uniform, the employer
will provide three such uniforms per year to each employee.
b. Employees are responsible for the proper care of uniforms and will be required to
replace, at their own cost, any part of a uniform supplied by the employer if such
proper care is not given. The employer will be responsible for laundering uniforms.
c. Any uniforms provided to an employee always remain the property of the employer
and must be returned to the employer on termination of employment.
d. Employees are not allowed to wear uniforms outside VNIH’s grounds except when
on official business.
5.5. Transportation
a. Unless provided otherwise in an employee’s individual employment contract,
transportation to and from work and time spent travelling to and from work is the
responsibility of the employee.
b. The employer will make available to the employees the use of company vehicles for
work – related travel within the city. If no company vehicle is available, the
company will pay the cost of taxis or cyclos or reimburse the cost of petrol.
c. Employees must present claims for this allowance including bills or receipts for
petrol etc where applicable. Claims must be submitted to the Accounts Department
by the last day of each month and will be paid within 7 days. Any claim received
after the last day of the month will be treated as the claim for the following month
and the allowance for the previous month will be deemed to have been forfeited.
5.6. Training
a. The employer will provide all training required for the employees to perform their
jobs effectively. Training may be in any of the following forms:
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
Training in the office or workplace by senior staff or specialist consultants
 Training courses or seminars in Vietnam
 Attendance at international training courses or conventions
b. Employees will be required to show training results from any training provided.
c. The employer will make every effort to reward employees for satisfactory
completion of training programs by providing opportunity for promotion based on
the employee’s increased skills.
d. The Management may deem some training mandatory and attendance by the
relevant staff will be compulsory.
ARTICLE 6: LABOUR DISPUTES
6.1. Reporting and resolution of Labour Disputes
a. Breach of the rules and regulations of the VNIH or the terms of this Agreement will
first be addressed by the individual employees and their immediate
superior/supervisor whether the breach be on the part of the employee or the
employer.
b. If they are unable to resolve the problem by negotiation, either or both parties may
ask for the matter to be referred to VNIH’s Board of Conciliation which is
composed of an equal number of members nominated by the employer and the
employees.
c. If VNIH’s Conciliation Committee fails to resolve a collective labor dispute then
the dispute may be referred to Labour Arbitration Council of the Hanoi City People
Court. Personal labor disputes may be referred to the District People’s Court.
d. If the Hanoi City Labour Arbitration Council is unsuccessful at resolving a
collective labor dispute then the dispute shall be referred to the Hanoi People’s Law
Court. The decision of the People’s Law Court shall be final and binding on all
parties to the dispute.
6.2. Right to Strike
In accordance with and subject to the labour laws of Vietnam, the employees have a
right to strike. But due to the nature of the service provided by VNIH (refer Article
1.4.c) the employees acknowledge that they should not strike in any circumstance.
Negotiation may be held in other ways. Even if strike is held, as determined in Labour
Law employees must provide services in emergency cases.
ARTICLE 7: REVISION AND AMENDMENTS
7.1. All Articles of this Agreement are subject to the prevailing Labour Regulations of
the Vietnamese government. If therefore at any time during the period of the
Agreement, the labour Regulations are revised or amended, such revisions or
amendments will take precedence over the terms of this Agreement if any discrepancy
between the two arises.
7.2. It is the responsibility of the employer to obtain information regarding any revision
or amendments to the Labour Regulations and to bring such revisions or amendments
to the notice of the employees representative within one month of such information
becoming available. The employer and the employees representative must then arrange
a meeting within the next month to discuss necessary changes to this Agreement. Such
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changes will be effected in minutes being signed by both parties which will be deemed
to form part of this Agreement.
ARTICLE 8: IMPLEMENTATION
8.1. This Agreement takes effect on the day of
1998 and is valid for a
period of two years.
8.2. In accordance with Labor Regulations, this agreement is produced and signed in 4
copies in each of Vietnamese and English which have the same value. Each side keeps
one copy, one copy is to be sent to the local labor office for registration and one copy is
to be sent to the Hanoi Trade Union.
Signed at
. . . . .. . . . . . . . .
for “ the employer”
on the
day of
1999
. . .. . . . . . . . .. . . . .
for “the employees”
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