LookAtVietnam – The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs is canvassing opinions about a draft decree on salaries and bonuses for workers and management

Bonuses for all staff will be defined through their employment contracts and enterprise charters.

Tong Van Lai, head of the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs’ Salary Department, said the decree aimed to correct the fact that State-funded enterprises often had wage policies unrelated to real productivity results, and that there was a tendency for the gap between workforce and management to be too wide.

Since many State-funded enterprises had not been transformed into joint stock or limited companies, scrutiny of salary policies had not been carried out, leading to excessively high pay for management, while the workforce had seen little improvement in their salaries, said Lai.

Under the decree, when monthly average worker salaries fall under VND5 million (US$277), the salary of management board members will be capped so they do not exceed 10 times this amount.

Where worker salaries are between VND5-7 million ($277-388), the salary of those on the management board will not be able to exceed nine times the value, and if worker salaries average over VND7 million ($388), their salaries cannot exceed eight times the average.

Bonuses for all staff will be defined through their employment contracts and enterprise charters. They will take into account annual profitability, and never exceed the average amount of a three-month salary in total.

Gather opinions

The draft decree states that enterprises need to gather opinions on salary and bonus policies from trade union representatives and that the workforce as a whole need to be informed before the new regulations are introduced.

In the first quarter of the year, state-funded enterprises will have to present their salary and bonus reports to the agencies who contribute the funding to the enterprise.

The enterprise has 15 days to correct any mistakes found in their report.

If the enterprise has already overspent on wages and bonuses, it will have to pay back the outstanding amount.

Nguyen Thanh Long, Business Department head of a state-funded tourism and trading company in Ha Noi, said that in comparison with his workforce, management staff like him received a quarterly bonus of VND30 million ($1,666) while a normal worker, such as a tourist guides received just under VND4 million ($222).

Long said that the company was attempting to balance the pay, but management staff should be rewarded for the tough decisions and extra responsibility they shoulder.

Le Thanh Cong, an employee at the same company, said it was necessary to raise salaries and bonuses for workers, as they also had to work hard in making the company a success. It was unacceptable that the company could cut employees’ pay, while raising management pay and bonuses.

The draft decree will be submitted to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News