Working Paper No. 42: 'Employee participation in Vietnam'

The paper provides an in-depth overview of industrial relations developments in Viet Nam with a focus on how various forms of employee participation have evolved, how they are regulated and how they are put into practice. The changes in labour relations in Viet Nam since the introduction of the Doi Moi economic reform policy resulted in the enactment of the Labour Code and Trade Union Law in the early 1990s which envisaged employee participation through enterprise unions and workers’ congresses. However, mainly due to the ineffective functioning of collective bargaining and workers’ congresses, a series of wildcat strikes occurred against terms and conditions of work arbitrarily set by management. In order to prevent such disputes, affected companies have taken steps on their own initiative to improve labour relations, particularly through encouraging employee participation. The paper identifies some such successful employee participation initiatives which opened up channels for giving a voice to workers. It also examines their impact by grouping participatory models into those led through either team leaders, trade union units or workers’ representatives.