Modernising the Labour Law
The Vietnamese Labour Code dates back to 1994. At that time the Vietnamese economy was making its first moves towards a more market oriented economy providing greater opportunity to the private sector. Since that date the number of workers in the private sector increased from a meagre 4.4 million to over 20 million right now. There is an ever increasing number of private companies and more and more companies take part in and/or face the global economy. These developments call for a new labour code: less directive, much more facilitating, opening up to flexibility while taking care of international standards and ILO conventions.
From May 23rd till 27th DECP’s partner organization, the Vietnamese Women Entrepreneurs Council, organized two, very well attended, conferences (one in Ha Noi, one in Da Nang) for its members to directly meet with representatives of the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and of the National Assembly’s Social Committee to discuss the latest draft of a new Labour Code that may be approved by the National Assembly this fall and then formally adopted next year. DECP contributed to these conferences financially as well as with respect to the content via a presentation of DECP’s director, Ronald de Leij.
Surprisingly or not, retirement age is not just an issue in the Old World with its rapidly ageing populations and workforces, it is also an issue in Vietnam! In Vietnam, however, it is at first a matter of gender equality. The Netherlands has left that station already a few years ago.