Guidelines for organizing employee conferences in Vietnam

Guidelines for organizing employee conferences in Vietnam (Internet image)

1. What are employee conferences?

According to Article 47 of Decree 145/2020/ND-CP, employee conferences shall be held by the employer in cooperation with the internal employee representative organization (if any) and the representative group (if any) in the form of plenary conferences or delegate-only conferences.

2. Guidelines for organizing employee conferences in Vietnam

A trade union should closely adhere to law and Article 47 of Decree 145/2020/ND-CP to propose the form, content and procedures for organization of an employee conference (briefly called conference); any trade union with the membership of fewer than 10 employees are not required to hold any conference. Details about these steps are given hereunder:

(1) Preparing for the conference in Vietnam

(1.1) Developing the plan to organize the conference

- The trade union should actively propose and agree with the employer on formulation of the plan to organize the conference which specifies: Content and form of the conference; the number of delegates to the conference and distribution of the number of delegates that each subordinate unit can elect to the conference (in case of the delegate conference); conference schedule and venue; assignment of tasks of preparing for presentations in the conference; budget and physical conditions necessary for organization of the conference at the corporate level and the subordinate unit level. Recommendation for the conference chair, secretary and other preparations should be made according to the particular workplace situation. The plan is signed on both sides.

- The trade union recommends the employer to set up the conference organizing committee and clearly assigns duties to each of its members. The organizing committee is composed of: The employer’s representative, the representative of the trade union’s executive committee and representatives from several related departments of the employer. The employer’s representative (holding the chief or deputy chief position) is appointed as the head of the organizing committee; the representative of the trade union’s executive committee (holding the president or vice president position) is appointed as the vice head of the organizing committee.

- Participants in the conference should be clearly stated in the plan to organize the conference:

+ As for the general/plenary conference: Participants are all of the employees working for the enterprise. In case where employees cannot leave their production position, the trade union and the employer should reach agreement on participants provided that at least 70% of employees can attend.

+ As for the delegate/representative conference: The trade union and the employer reach agreement on the delegates to the conference according to the employer’s production and business situation, and hold the conference only if at least 70% of total number of delegates who are invited attend. Attendees are composed of the followings:

Ex official participants, including: Members of the Governing Board, the Members’ Board or the President of the enterprise; the Head of the Supervisory Board, Supervisors; the General Director, the Deputy General Director, the Director or the Deputy Director; representatives of all-level Party committees and socio-political organizations (if any); the Chief Accountant, the Head of the Human Resource Department; the people's inspection board (if any); the executive committee of the trade union or the representative of the executive committee of the superior trade union where the grassroots trade union has not yet been set up (on the basis of agreement with the employer) and other participants negotiated and agreed on from both sides as well as stated in the Regulations.

With regard to voting delegates (on the employee side): The trade union shall recommend the candidates for election, the relevant number of delegates to the conference, hold the election meeting that ensures democracy, impartiality and take into account representatives from departments, committees, workshops, etc. Based on conditions for organization of the conference, the trade union may cooperate with the employer to agree on the ratio of elected candidates to total increased number of employees on the employer side. (Example: An enterprise hires and employs at least 101 persons, at least 05 delegates are nominated per an increase of 100 employees).

(1.2) Organization and agenda of the conference

When formulating the trade union Regulations, several points mentioned hereunder should be added to the Regulations:

- The employee conference is organized by groups, teams, departments, divisions, workshops or subordinate units (according to the organization structure and size of the enterprise).

- The employer issues the plan to organize the conference after reaching agreement with the trade union’s executive committee.

- Responsibilities for preparing for the content of the conference:

+ The employer prepares the presentation containing the followings: Production and business situation of the previous year, business proposal of the employer in the current year; resolving complaints and accusations; carrying out emulation, commendation and discipline movements; using reward funds, welfare funds, social charity funds, trade union funds... (those information which are communicated or accessible to employees); allocating quotas for delegates to the enterprise-level employee conference to each subordinate unit and in order for participating units to select and vote their delegates (in case of holding the delegate conference); employee's recommendations that employees send to the owner's representatives (e.g., President of the Governing Board, Members’ Board; President of the company or the parent company) to seek their decision (if any).

+ The trade union prepares the presentation containing the followings: Synthesizing the results of the conference held by a group, team, division, department, workshop...; synthesizing suggestions and recommendations of the employees for the purpose of amendment and supplement to the collective bargaining agreement (CBA), internal rules and regulations on wages, salaries, bonuses, labor norms, reward fund, welfare fund, social charity fund...; synthesizing other opinions concerning the rights and benefits of the employees; the implementation of democratic regulations or dialogues at work, the implementation of the previous year's conference resolutions and the results of settlement of recommendations of the employee collective after each dialogue; providing guidance for the directly affiliated trade union to prepare presentations and work with its peer professional unit to organize conference at that level according to the predetermined plan.

+ Participants on both sides can agree on the estimated number of presentations or speeches and persons preparing these presentations or speeches.

(1.3) Conference banner/backdrop mock-up

The trade union should agree with the employer on the sample and content of the conference banner/backdrop, which should show the following information:

(2) Organizing the conference of the directly affiliated unit in Vietnam

(2.1) Preparing for the conference

- Based on the enterprise's plan to organize the conference, the head of the unit shall cooperate with the trade union in formulating its own meeting plan; making preparations related to the content and form of its conference, participants, agenda; presentations that it is assigned to give; facility, equipment, decoration, guest welcoming conditions,... which are necessary for the meeting to take place.

- Preparing for the conference agenda:

+ The unit’s head prepares his/her presentation containing the following information: Production and business situation of the previous year, business proposal of the unit in the current year; results of settlement of complaints and denunciations; implementation of emulation, commendation and sanctioning movements; results of contribution to the welfare fund, the social charity fund by employees in the unit; other content agreed upon from both sides.

+ The trade union prepares the presentation containing the followings: Synthesizing the opinions from the employees related to their rights and interests; the implementation of the Resolution of the previous year's conference and the results of the settlement of the employees' recommendations after the dialogues; other issues to be discussed as agreed upon on both sides.

(2.2) Organizing the conference

- The unit’s head shall cooperate with the trade union in presiding over and organizing the conference according to the agenda agreed upon on both sides, and shall present on his/her part.

- On the basis of opinions exchanged and discussed in the conference, the unit’s head in conjunction with the trade union shall prepare the report, recommendations and proposals of the employees under their management for submission to the superior so that they are presented and discussed in the conference at the enterprise (or corporation or incorporation level).

- Nominate and elect the representative to the conference at the enterprise level (if any).

- Nominate and elect its members to the dialogue at its own level and the enterprise level (if any).

- Approve the minutes, complete the conference minutes, and communicate it to all of its employees as well as submit it to the superior in accordance with regulations.

(3) Organizing the conference at the enterprise level in Vietnam

(3.1) Bodies chairing and assisting in the conference

- Conference chair: This is a person presiding over the conference and resolving any issues that arise in the conference under his/her authority. There shall be 02 chairs, including 1 representative of the employer and 1 representative of the executive committee of the trade union, who are nominated from both sides and elected in the conference. Both chairing members have equal rights and duties to chair the conference which are appropriate and match roles and responsibilities of each member. In case where both members fail to agree on a particular issue, the conference resolution on this issue shall be sought.

- Conference secretary: This is a person writing up the conference minutes, assisting in the conference chair to deal with any issue arising in the conference, and finalizing conference documents promptly after the conference. There shall be 02 secretaries nominated by the chair on each side (the employer and the trade union or the representative of the employer).

(3.2) Conference scenario

- Flag salute (recommended).

- Opening speeches and delegate welcoming remarks.

- Electing the conference chair; the elected chair taking charge of the conference.

- Presentations given on the part of the employer’s representative and the trade union’s representative.

- Delegates entering into discussion and raising questions.

- Invitation for leadership’s speeches (if any).

- The chair collecting opinions and answering questions under his/her delegated authority; drawing conclusions using reports, internal rules, regulations and CBA (if any).

- Signing CBA (If any).

- Electing or announcing members participating in the dialogue on the employee side (if any).

- Electing the people’s inspection board at the state enterprise (if any).

- Offering rewards, launching emulation activities and signing emulation agreements (if any).

- Voting for ratification of the Resolution or main content of the conference minutes (as commonly known as Resolution).

- Closing remark.

Notes: When organizing an online conference, the trade union may recommend the employer to specify the followings in the conference organization regulations: 1) login addresses authenticated by OTP codes, username and passwords granted by the unit during the conference; 2) voting and discussion methods; 3) online voting form (e-voting or remote voting), ballots with QR codes, time and duration of voting, valid and invalid votes, confirmation of voting results; 4) conformity with all conditions relating to equipment, transmission lines, security work; 5) guidance and rehearsal related to the aforesaid for delegates prior to the conference.

(4) Implementing the conference resolution in Vietnam

Immediately after the conference, the employer’s representative and the trade union’s representative or the representative if the employee organization at workplace (if any) shall perform the activities hereunder:

- Take up contributed opinions to finalize the report presented in the conference before releasing it; send the report to the superior on each side.

- Communicate the conference resolution to all employees.

- Instruct subordinate units on each side to implement the resolution according to their assigned functions and duties.

- Amend and supplement internal rules and regulations in conflict with the CBA already in effect or amended (if any), or the conference resolution.

- Every six months, assess the implementation of the conference resolution (i.e., achievements, unsolved issues, problems arising during the implementation period, recommended actions for ongoing implementation of the resolution in the future).

Legal basis: Instruction41/HD-TLD 2021.

Diem My

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