Hanoi(VNA) - The Vietnam General Confederation ofLabour (VGCL) has proposed continuing the implementation of a resolutionsupporting its members and employees who lost their jobs or had their workingtime reduced as their enterprises suffered from a reduction in orders.

Resolution No. 06/NQ-TLD was issued by the VGCL’s Presidium onJanuary 16, 2023 providing allowances to union members and non-member employeeswho were affected from October 1, 2022 to the end of March 31, 2023.

The VGCL is studying to support this group of workers in cash withan estimated cost of about 145 billion VND (over 6 million USD).

According to a report by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids andSocial Affairs, in the first five months this year, 509,903 employees losttheir jobs, quit, had working hours reduced, were temporarily suspended labourcontracts or took unpaid leave, accounting for about 3.4% of the total numberof employees in enterprises.

The number of employees who lost their jobs or quit was 279,000people, while 195,039 employees had their working hours reduced and 17,003employees were suspended from work or took unpaid leave.

The situation of unemployed and laid-off workers was mainly inprovinces and big cities with many industrial parks and export processing zonessuch as Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Ho Chi Minh City.

The VGCL forecast that the labour market will continue to bearmany risks and challenges because of a decrease in purchasing power in exportmarkets, Russia – Ukraine conflict, inflation, price hike, and tight monetarypolicy in many countries.

This leads to the situation that workers continue to lose theirjobs and their working hours cut off, reduce income, and face manydifficulties.

The difficult situation is forecast to continue until the end of2023.

Therefore, the VGCL proposes to continue implementing the policyof supporting trade union members and employees according to Resolution No.06/NQ-TLD.

The support period is from April 1 to the end of December 31. Thedeadline for receiving applications is the end of January 31, 2024.

The deadline for completing support procedures for trade unionmembers and employees is March 31, 2024.

The total estimated cost is about 145 billion VND (over 6 million USD).

Previously, implementing Resolution No. 06/NQ-TLD, trade unions atall levels provided one-time financial support in cash to union members andemployees at enterprises and co-operatives that have paid union’s fees beforeSeptember 30, 2022 and had their working time reduced or their labour contractsterminated from October 1, 2022 to the end of March 31, 2023.

The level of financial support for trade union members was from 1-3million VND (42-125 USD).

Employees who are not trade union members were entitled to asupport level equal to 70% of the support level for the union members.

To date, the total amount of support was more than 114.5 billionVND (6.8 million USD) given for 81,676 union members and employees./.