What are the regulations on salaries of employees during a strike in Vietnam?

What are the regulations on salaries of employees during a strike in Vietnam? (Internet image)

Regarding this issue, LawNet would like to answer as follows:

1. What is a strike?

According to Article 198 of the Labor Code 2019 stipulates that a strike is a temporary, voluntary and organized stoppage of work by the employees in order to press demands in the process of the labor dispute settlement. A strike shall be organized and lead by the representative organization of employees that has the right to request collective bargaining and is a disputing party.

2. Salaries of employees during a strike in Vietnam

Pursuant to Article 207 of the Labor Code 2019, salaries and other lawful interest of employees during a strike are as follows:

- Employees who do not take part in the strike but have to temporarily stop working due to the strike are entitled to work suspension allowance but the amount must not be smaller than the statutory minimum wages as well as to other benefits as stipulated in the labor laws.

- Employees who take part in the strike shall not receive salaries and other benefits as prescribed by law, unless agreed otherwise by both parties.

Thus, an employee who does not participate in a strike but has to stop working because of the strike shall be paid the stoppage salary at the rate agreed upon by the two parties, but it must not be lower than the minimum wage if the employee joins his or her family. Workers will not be paid a salary as prescribed by law unless otherwise agreed by the parties.

3. Cases in which employees are entitled to strike in Vietnam

The representative organization of employees that is a disputing party to an interest-based collective labor dispute is entitled to call a strike following the procedures specified in Articles 200, 201 and 202 of the Labor Code 2019 in the following cases:

- The mediation is unsuccessful or the labor mediator fails to initiate the mediation by the deadline specified in Clause 2 Article 188 of the Labor Code 2019;

- An arbitral tribunal is not established or fails to issue a decision on the settlement of the labor dispute; the employer that is a disputing party fails to implement the settlement decision issued by the arbitral tribunal.

(Article 199 of the Labor Code 2019)

4. Strike decision and notice of starting time of a strike in Vietnam

Strike decision and notice of starting time of a strike are specified in Article 202 of the Labor Code 2019 as follows:

- When over 50% of the surveyed people agree to carry out a strike as prescribed in Clause 2 Article 201 of this Labor Code, the representative organization of employees shall issue a written strike decision.

- The strike decision shall contain:

= The survey result;

= The starting time and the venue for the strike;

= The scope of the strike;

= The demands of the employees;

= Full name and address of the representative of the representative organization of employees that organizes and leads the strike.

- At least 05 working days prior to the starting date of the strike, the representative organization of employees shall send the strike decision to the employer, the People’s Committee of the district and the provincial labor authority.

- At the starting time of the strike, if the employer does not accept the demands of the employees, the strike may take place.

Thus, when more than 50% of the people consulted agree with the content of the strike, the representative organization of employees shall issue a decision to strike in writing. Notifying the strike at least 5 working days before the start of the strike, the workers' representative organization and the strike leader must send a written notice of the strike decision to the employer, the district-level people's committees, and specialized labor agencies under the provincial-level people's committees.

Nguyen Ngoc Que Anh

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