Sai Gon Tiep Thi newspaper spoke to Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Pham Minh Huan about a draft law to allow employers to shut out striking workers.

If the workers have the right to benefit by taking strike action, then employers should have some right to protect themselves too.

There are two contradictory views on this. One side agrees with the point, thinking that during the strike period, employers face big losses, so a temporary closing of the business will help them reduce costs. The other side definitely disagrees. We will incorporate this clause into the draft law and await for the decision from the National Assembly’s deputies.

Are you aware that nearly 1,000 workers at the Bando Vina Limited Company in the southern province of Tay Ninh are at risk of being sacked for striking, which according to the company’s director illegal?

Only the court has the right to decide whether the strike is illegal or not. The enterprise does not have that kind of right.

It is also hard for the enterprise to sack those workers because they would have to find enough workers to replace them.

What happens if the Bando Vina does not sack those workers but close their company?

First, if all the workers are on strike, no enterprise can work. Besides, we also have to create a clause that prevents possible shortcomings from the point. For example, the enterprises are forbidden to close before and after the strike as a way to take revenge on the strikers.

Do you think that the clause will make workers and management engage in negotiations after the strike?

In some localities, although the enterprises obey the labour law, workers still organise strikes, making demands that go further than what is said in the law. If the workers have the right to benefit by taking strike action, then employers should have some right to protect themselves too.

If the enterprises decide to temporarily close their companies, they must announce it to all of their employees including both strikers and non-strikers alike, the state agencies which are responsible for labour management and the provincial labour confederation.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News