Building the Capacity of Provincial-level Trade Unions in Vietnam on Young Worker Protection

In July, The Centre facilitated one of three capacity-building workshops that trained 35 provincial-level trade union representatives from 15 provinces and cities across Vietnam in total. These workshops were part of the Work: No Child’s Business (WNCB) initiative, an alliance led by Save the Children Netherlands, UNICEF Netherlands, and the Stop Child Labour Coalition, which aims to end child labour at the community, government, and private sector levels. Organised by UNICEF Vietnam and the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL), the workshops aimed to equip trade union officials at both central and provincial levels with essential knowledge on promoting young worker protection and upskilling youth as a measure to prevent child labour.

These workshops marked a significant shift towards engaging the VGCL, the workers' representative organisation, in promoting child rights through the trade union network at various levels. Previous activities had focused more on promotion through the employer’s representative organisation, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, business associations, and factory management.

The training sessions covered three key topics, providing participants with essential knowledge while encouraging creativity and awareness-raising skills for trade union officials to apply when promoting these topics to private sector actors and communities:

• Child Labour Prevention and Remediation: The role of trade unions in promoting responsible business systems to prevent child labour in business operations and supply chains.

• Young Worker Protection: The role of trade unions in promoting decent work opportunities for young workers, especially those aged 15 to under 18.

• Upskilling for Youth: The role of trade unions in promoting upskilling for young workers, including both job skills and soft skills.

The training provided an opportunity to promote a new approach to child labour prevention and remediation efforts from the trade union side rather than from the employer’s side. Trade union participants were very active and creative in producing awareness-raising products, including plays, poems, slogans, and posters, targeting different audience groups within the limited timeframe of the training.

Mr. Tran Hong Minh, Chairman of the Trade Union of Khanh Hoa Industry and Trade Sector, shared his enthusiasm after participating in the training. He remarked, "With the appropriate and practical ways we learned from the training, it will certainly be replicated in industries and local trade unions so that many businesses are equipped with knowledge and skills to protect young workers in the workplace. Thus, the Trade Union organization will achieve its mandate of supporting its members."

Ms. Do Hong Van, Head of the VGCL’s Committee of Women's Affairs, emphasised the broader impact of the training programme: 

This training programme is a part of the efforts to prevent and reduce child labour while promoting equal opportunities for children in education and training. Although the proportion of young workers in businesses today tends to increase with the advantages of technology skills, flexibility, and creativity, this workforce is still limited in terms of experience, knowledge, and skills. Therefore, trade unions at all levels need to continue to promote and enhance their role in paying attention to and participating in the development of policies for the protection of young workers, and at the same time coordinating with businesses in renewing technological equipment, having plans to recruit, attract and train to improve labour quality.

At the end of the training, trade union representatives from the 15 provinces and cities prepared action plans that mapped out future awareness-raising efforts on child protection and the promotion of child rights for trade unions at lower levels. These plans especially targeted enterprises in different sectors and community social partners in the provinces.