News

The Vietnam economy, particularly the retail sector has seen much growth during the past few years due to the opening of the market economy and increasing consumer base. However this industry has been facing numerous challenges arising out of an increasing competitive global economy and rapid technological innovations. 30 delegates from the three biggest players this sector in Vietnam, Big C Supermarket, METRO Cash and Carry and CoopMart trade union gathered in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to deliberate on issues arising from this sector.



This workshop – conducted in Ho Chi Minh City is the first of its kind in Vietnam - was designed to facilitate dialogue between the retail sector partners in their common endeavour to empower the Vietnam Retail Sector to become a competitive industry capable of sustainable growth for the creation of more and better jobs with decent terms and conditions of employment. The workshop focused on two main areas that will aim to enhance the industry’s competitiveness; namely the development of (i) constructive social partnership industrial relations and; (ii) development of human capital in the retail sector.



Mr Chau Nhat Binh, Vice Director of International Department, VGCL and Mr. Truong Lam Danh, Vice President of Ho Chi Minh Federation of Labour in the opening ceremony highlight the need for the trade unions to strengthen the movement by responding to the workers needs and build alliances within the industry players and welcomed the initiatives of UNI Apro to assist in creation of an alliance for the trade union in the Commerce Sector.



Mr. Christopher Ng, Regional Secretary, UNI Apro shared his views and experiences in the effort to develop such relations at this region. The Hero Supermarket, Indonesia experience and success is an exemplary industrial relations model. Questions were also posed on the issue of building a strong retail sector in the region in particular between Vietnam and other countries within UNI.



The following were the themes:-

Development of trade unionism in the Vietnam Retail Sector : The panelists shared information on 1) the structure of their trade unions, 2) the methods used to organize workers into trade unions, 3) trade union activities, 4) subscriptions, 5) services and 6) channel of communication with their members.



Collectivism in strengthening the trade unions in the Retail Sector: Looking into the practices of the Retail Sector in other countries and how thru stronger trade union involvement has brought benefits to the trade union members, employers and the industry. The panel members shared their mechanism used in their collective bargaining and areas of interest for them to move forward in their collective bargaining agreements.



Towards a true and active trade union and employer partnership for sustained competitiveness and equitable return : Focusing on the development of true and active trade union and employer social partnership which can contribute to sustained forms of competitive advantage and equitable returns in the retail industry. The invited panelists spoke of their respective perception and experiences for the formulation of strategies to encourage and develop social partnership industrial relations and building human capital in the Vietnam Retail Sector.





The two days workshop managed to highlight existing good practices and draw upon the experiences of various organisations in their endeavour to achieve ideal policies and strategies. The Workshop discussions had enabled the partners to develop a follow up program to realize the workshop recommendations with the support of UNI Apro. Thirty Trade Union leaders from Big C, METRO Cash & Carry and Coopmart participated in this workshop.



The workshop concluded that there were still a lot each union can learned from each other as the structure of trade union, representation and development of the trade union activities including the terms stated in their respective Collective bargaining agreement differs. The participants agreed to continue the effort to work together in building a strong retail sector trade union alliance.







This network for the Vietnam Retail Sector is organised by UNI Global Union - Asia & Pacific (UNI Apro) with partnership with LO TCO Sweden and the cooperation of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL) and Ho Chi Minh Federation of Labour. It was participated by Trade union leaders from Big C Supermarket, METRO Cash and Carry and CoopMart.