Congressional Interest in Vietnam's Labor Rights Regime

		The U.S.-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement

This report provides information on and analysis of Vietnam's labor rights conditions, a topic that is expected to be raised during Congressional debate over the United States-Vietnam bilateral trade agreement (BTA). Under the agreement, which was signed on July 13, 2000 and requires congressional approval, the United States will restore temporary most-favored nation (MFN, also known as normal trade relations [NTR]) status to Vietnam, a step that would significantly reduce U.S. tariffs on most imports from Vietnam. Labor Rights and Trade Agreements

Congressional debate over the BTA is expected to highlight, among other items, Vietnam's labor rights situation. The BTA does not specifically address workers' rights. The second provides an overview of Vietnam's labor rights regime, including a description of the present international regime for protecting labor rights, Vietnam's relationship with the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the U.S. Labor Department, and Vietnam's Labor Code. The following two sections provide a detailed look at Vietnam's law and policy in six areas of labor rights: the right of association/collective bargaining; forced labor, including trafficking in women; child labor, including trafficking in children; health and safety; wages, hours and welfare benefits; and discrimination. The penultimate portion of the report provides some international context by contrasting the Vietnamese and Chinese labor rights regimes. This report will be updated as more information is obtained. By the mid-1980s, disastrous economic conditions led the country to adopt a more pragmatic line, enshrined in the doi moi (renovation) economic reforms of 1986. This situation, however, has been improving in recent years. All unions must belong to the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor (VGCL) , which is an organ of the Party. Since the early 1990s, however, the VGCL and local unions have become more assertive, a development tolerated—and in some cases encouraged—by the government. Some analysts have pointed out that the absence of the true right of association in Vietnam has prevented speedier improvements in other areas of worker rights such as in health and safety issues. Under the Trade Union Law and other Vietnamese statutes, unions are considered to be organs of the state and responsible to the leadership of the Communist Party. Since thousands of workers in inefficient state-owned enterprises would likely be terminated in a fully market-oriented economy, these workers may have less incentive to strike. The State Department has reported that there is growing evidence that some grass-roots unions have been effective in improving working conditions. The following comparison between the Vietnamese and Chinese labor rights will focus on the right of association, collective bargaining, and the special issues of health and safety, wages and hours, forced labor, and child labor. Though they are not part of the ACFTU, these loosely organized groups have been tolerated by local governments.
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.