HCM City (VNA) – Trade unions at all levels have played an importantrole in protecting rights of female and unofficial workers, experts said at anongoing regional conference held in HoChi Minh City.
According to Nguyen Thi Thu Hong, former Chairwoman of the Vietnam GeneralConfederation of Labour, trade unions at all levels have organised a line-up ofactivities to ensure rights for workers in general and female workers inparticular. However, they still face challenges in assuring jobs, livingquality and social security for employees.
She said that the conference, which lasts from October 8-16, will help improvewomen’s position in workplace while affirming that gender equality, a criterionto measure social development in one country, is an important goal for Vietnamand other countries around the world.
Meanwhile, Andre Edelhoff, head of North-South Network Division under the Confederationof German Trade Unions’ education institute DGB Bildungswerk, spoke highly ofthe project on female workers and unofficial labour in Vietnam, in which theVietnamese trade union made concerted efforts to popularise the need to improveworking and living conditions for female labourers.
After three years of implementation, the project has completed its basictargets, including bettering livelihoods for workers, especially femalelabourers, and enhancing trade unions’ roles in building sound and stablerelations between employers and employees.
Also, it helps promote friendship and cooperation between the Vietnamese tradeunion and Bildungswerk and members of the North-South Network.
Over the past 13 years, the Confederation of German Trade Union has supportedthe Vietnamese trade union in carrying out various projects to assure therights of the workers, he added.
A wide range of issues were on the table at the conference, including femaleworkers and unofficial labour in Vietnam.-VNA