Attending the Seminar were: Mr. Jesús Lavina, Deputy Head, Cooperation Department, Delegation of the European Union to Vietnam; Ms. Nguyen Hong Anh, Civil Society Program Manager, Department of Cooperation - Development and Health, Delegation of the European Union to Vietnam; Mr. Le Dinh Quang, Deputy Head, Department of Policy and Law, Vietnam General Confederation of Labor; Mr. Nguyen Dinh Thang, Vice Chairman of the Trade Union of the Management Board of Hanoi Industrial Parks and Export Processing Zones; Representatives of some provincial Departments of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs; Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Chien Thang, Director of the Institute of European Studies and experts and scientists in universities and research institutes inside and outside the VASS...
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Chien Thang thanked the delegates who attended the policy seminar and said that this is the third regional policy discussion held within the framework of the project "Improving the role of organizations workers and society”. This seminar was planned to be held in the Central region, but due to the epidemic, the European Research Institute decided to hold it in Hanoi with a combination of both face-to-face and online. Before this seminar, the Institute of European Studies and its partners successfully organized 02 regional policy talks in the North and the South. The first policy discussion was held in November 2020 in Hanoi with the theme "Working life of industrial park workers under the impact of Covid-19". The second seminar, held in December 2020 in Ho Chi Minh City with the theme "Working conditions of workers in industrial zones in Vietnam".
Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Chien Thang said that most workers in industrial zones are migrant workers, especially female workers. The reality shows that migrant workers often face many difficulties in accessing social services, especially public services such as temporary absence registration, housing, kindergartens, schools for migrant workers, activities, medical examination and treatment services…. In recent years, the issue of access to social services of workers in general and workers working in industrial zones in particular has received special attention from all levels and sectors. Favorable access to social services will help employees stabilize their lives and jobs, making a positive contribution to the country's socio-economic development.
Director, Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Chien Thang emphasized, today's discussion has the following purposes: (i) Firstly, the ECOW project will report a summary of the ECOW project's research results on the role of trade unions for workers in the workplace of industry zones. The project conducted interviews with over 3,000 garment and electronics workers in highly industrialized provinces in all three regions. These are some initial research results and the project wishes to receive contributions from delegates and scientists so that the Research Team can complete its research results; (ii) Second, expect the speakers and participants to focus on discussing the advantages and disadvantages for workers in industrial zones, especially migrant workers, in accessing social services, as well as policy recommendations to improve workers' conditions…
Discussion session atmosphere
At the Seminar, a presentation report was presented with the theme "Reporting survey results of the ECOW project on the role of trade unions for workers working in industrial zones", by Dr. Dang Thai Binh, ECOW project officer, Institute of European Studies presented. After sharing the results of field studies on workers working in a number of industrial zones in Vietnam, the conference turned to a roundtable discussion chaired by Dr. Do Ta Khanh (European Institute), ECOW Project Director and Mr. Le Dinh Quang, Deputy Head, Department of Policy and Law, Vietnam General Confederation of Labor with the participation of members: Mr. Nguyen Van An, Deputy Director, Da Nang Department of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs; Mr. Hoang Huu Nghi, Vice President, Da Nang City Confederation of Labor; Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Ngoc, Deputy Director, Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Da Nang; Ms. Le Thi Kim Ngan, Head of Policy, Law and Labor Relations Department, Labor Confederation of Quang Ngai Province; Master, Doctor Nguyen Thu Giang, Deputy Director, Anh Sang Institute for Community Health Development, LIGHT.
The seminar received many exchanges and discussions of the participants, whereby experts and scientists all offered expanded views on the role of trade unions in supporting workers' lives in the workplace of industry zones.
Concluding speech at the Seminar, Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Chien Thang highly appreciated the content of the presentation and the comments and contributions of the participants. Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Chien Thang emphasized the role of trade unions in supporting workers related to life and employment, social security. Appreciate the active participation of the delegates to help the project achieve the set goals, and look forward to continuing to receive more contributions from the delegates and organizations; The European Union will continue to accompany and support the network of labor-related social organizations in Vietnam…
Reporter.
