Vietnam's Labor Rights Regime: An Assessment
Publication Date: March 2002
Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
Author(s):
Research Area: Trade
Type:
Coverage: Vietnam
Abstract:
Congress is currently considering the U.S.-Vietnam bilateral trade agreement (BTA). Under the agreement, which was signed in July 2000 and requires Congressional approval, the United States pledged to extend conditional normal trade relations status to Vietnam, thereby significantly lowering tariffs on imports from Vietnam, in return for Hanoi's agreement to enact a wide range of market-oriented reforms. Congressional discussion over the BTA is expected to highlight Vietnam's labor rights situation, a topic that has become a contentious part of the trade debate in recent years. The BTA itself does not specifically address workers' rights.
The evolution of Vietnam's labor rights regime has been heavily conditioned by the tension between maintaining political stability and promoting economic development - two goals that often conflict. On the one hand, Vietnamese workers are not free to form their own independent unions. All unions must belong to the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor (VGCL), an organ of the Communist Party. Analysts have observed that the absence of a true right of association in Vietnam has impeded the improvement of labor rights in other areas. Collective bargaining agreements remain the exception rather than the rule. Vietnam's doi moi (renovation) economic reforms, launched in 1986, have been followed by surging urban unemployment and a rise in child labor, forced prostitution, and the trafficking of women and children. Workers in all sectors of the economy are often exposed to dangerous, unhealthy, and in some cases impoverished "sweatshop" conditions. Rapid economic expansion, corruption, and shortages of funds, training, and personnel have made it extremely difficult for government authorities to enforce Vietnam's labor laws.
On the other hand, since the launch of the doi moi reforms, worker rights have made substantial progress. Vietnam rejoined the International Labor Organization (ILO) in 1992 and since then the government, unions, and local groups have intensified their cooperation with the ILO and other international groups. A comprehensive and detailed Labor Code was passed in 1994. Among other advances, it recognized workers' right to strike. There is evidence that over the past decade the VGCL and its member-unions have become more assertive - particularly on matters relating to wages, health, and safety - a development tolerated by the government. By many measures - the coverage of labor laws, the tolerance of wildcat strikes, the slowly increasing clout of grass-roots unions, the relative openness of debate over labor issues - there is evidence that the Vietnamese labor rights regime is more flexible and responsive than its Chinese counterpart.
This report details Vietnam's law and policy in six areas of labor rights: the right of association/collective bargaining; forced labor; child labor; health and safety; wages, hours and welfare benefits; and discrimination. This report also provides international context by contrasting the Vietnamese and Chinese labor rights regimes. Comprehensive information about Vietnam's labor conditions are scarce. As more information is obtained, this report will be updated.