HANOI – Communist-ruled Vietnam is expected to ratify this year the UN convention for the free establishment of trade unions, UN officials and diplomats said, in a move meant to cut risks of trade disputes but likely leaving some foreign companies uneasy.

The long-delayed measure would be a major formal step in the tightly controlled one-party nation where the only existing national trade union operates within the Communist Party structure, although it is unclear how and when the convention, once ratified, would be actually applied.

The Southeast Asian manufacturing hub, which is home to factories of international companies including Samsung Electronics, Intel, Foxconn and Canon, is highly reliant on commerce, which last year exceeded 160% of the $415 billion domestic economy.

It is required to apply UN standards on workers rights to avoid disputes over ‘social dumping’, which refers to the practice of countries competing unfairly with others over labour costs, under its multi-billion-dollar trade deals with the European Union and Pacific partners.

“We are confident Vietnam is committed to ratifying Convention 87 as early as possible,” Ingrid Christensen, the head in Vietnam of the International Labour Organization, the UN agency responsible for labour rights, told Reuters.

Convention 87 on the “freedom of association and protection of the right to organise” was adopted in 1948 and is one of the fundamental texts protecting labour rights worldwide.

In a meeting in December with foreign experts, Vietnam’s labour ministry officials said the ratification of the convention was expected in October 2024, according to a Hanoi-based diplomat. Other diplomats confirmed plans to ratify this year.

The Vietnamese Prime Minister’s office, the labor ministry and Vietnam General Confederation of Labour, the country’s only national union, did not reply to requests for comment.

After a decade of talks, parliament was expected to ratify the convention last year, just before the expiry of a January deadline agreed with Canada. With the deadline missed, Ottawa has in theory an additional argument to seek sanctions under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

Canada, whose trade with Vietnam is worth over $10 billion, is reviewing a complaint about whether Vietnamese labour laws are in compliance with CPTPP’s obligations on workers’ rights, a Canadian government spokesperson said.

The EU, which had bilateral trade with Hanoi amounting to nearly $65 billion in 2022, sees the ratification of Convention 87 and amendments of relevant laws as “crucial” to comply with the existing agreements, EU Ambassador to Vietnam Julien Guerrier said.

SOME COMPANIES UNHAPPY?

However, “if the ratification leads to more real power for trade unions, some companies may be unhappy,” said Nguyen Hung, a specialist in supply chains at RMIT University Vietnam, warning that could impact foreign investment, including from Samsung, the largest investor in the country.

Freedom of establishment would “result in a disorderly proliferation of unions” and deterioration of industrial relations, according to notes seen by Reuters for a 2016 speech by Samsung’s former deputy head in Vietnam, Bang Hyun Woo. The notes said Bang’s views did not reflect Samsung’s.

Samsung declined to comment about Vietnam’s possible ratification and whether that could change its investment plans.

Vietnam will also raise by 6% the minimum wage in the business sector in July, following other hikes in the past. It will also increase from this year levies on large multinationals under a new global tax deal.

Vivie Wei, who leads investment consultancy Dezan Shira & Associates in Vietnam, said she saw no significant impact on foreign investors’ interest from enhanced unions rights or wage hikes.

Vietnam “does not position itself as the cheapest option” but has still been able to attract investments even after recent increases in salaries, she said. — Reuters

KATHMANDU – For Nepali nurse Anshu, being picked for a job programme in Britain was long overdue recognition of her years of study and work – and a chance to boost her earnings.

“I finally feel my work has been valued,” said the 28-year-old, who asked to be identified only by her first name. She hopes her current monthly salary of 26,000 rupees ($196) at a private hospital in Nepal will rise to more than 10-times that in Britain.

But as she and several dozen other nurses prepare to leave, the bilateral government pilot under which they were recruited has fuelled concerns about an acute shortage of nurses and other medical professionals in the South Asian country.

Though only 43 nurses were accepted for the pilot phase, an official at the country’s Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) told Context a second phase was planned and that Britain eventually wanted to recruit 10,000 Nepali nurses.

While that would help Britain plug labour gaps in the National Health Service (NHS), it could exacerbate Nepal’s shortages, nursing officials said.

“The situation is already worrying,” said Hira Kumari Niraula, director of Nepal’s Nursing and Social Security Division (NSSD), a government body involved in the provision of public health services.

“Recently we started community health nursing and school nurse programmes to make nursing service available in needy communities. But the challenge is in many places we are not able to find nurses who are willing to work,” Niraula added.

Nepal currently has less than half of the 45,000 nurses that it needs working in the country’s hospital, rural clinics and other healthcare facilities, according to the NSSD.

It is among 55 countries included in a World Health Organization red list of nations facing a severe shortage of healthcare workers.

“We are in a shortage situation but the government is encouraging nurses to migrate. Then who will stay in Nepal?” Niraula said.

The DoFE has defended the agreement signed with Britain, saying such accords ensure migrant nurses’ rights and help deter illegal migration and labour exploitation.

“There is news that Nepali nurses are being cheated, abused, and exploited abroad as they take backdoor entries,” said DoFE information officer Kabiraj Upreti. “This agreement can be a milestone.”

‘NO FUTURE’

From Zimbabwe to the Philippines, concern is growing about the loss of qualified medical staff attracted by better salaries to take up health and care jobs in countries such as Britain, Australia, Canada and the United States.

In Nepal, more than one-third of the 115,900 nurses registered with the Nepal Nursing Council (NNC) have sought documents to practice overseas.

About half of Nepal’s migrant nurses went to the United States, followed by Australia and Dubai. Just over 500 have already migrated to Britain.

But the causes of the country’s medical staffing shortfall go beyond migration, said Roshan Pokharel, secretary of the Ministry of Health and Population.

“We are very much aware that a large number of health workers are migrating. But that’s not their problem. It’s our problem that we are not able to provide permanent, long-term, and stable jobs to our health workers,” Pokharel said.

“Government has allocated only around 4% of the total budget to the health sector which is just not enough,” he added.

Limited financial resources for healthcare in the country of 30 million mean the lure of better-paid jobs abroad is stronger than ever for many nurses.

Tired of demanding working conditions and low pay, Grishma Basnet, 25, who works in the intensive care unit (ICU) at a private hospital in the capital, Kathmandu, has applied to work in the United States and is awaiting news on where she will go.

“I have to look after three patients in the ICU, whereas the global standard is one nurse should only look after one patient in the ICU. Isn’t this exploitation?,” said Basnet, who said she earned 15,000 rupees per month at present.

“Why should I stay in this country? There is no future here,” she said. — Thomson Reuters Foundation