DECREE No. 196-CP DATED 31 DECEMBER 1994 OF THE GOVERNMENT

Detailing and guiding the implementation of a number

of Articles of the Labour Code providing for collective

labour agreements

THE GOVERNMENT

- Pursuant to the Law on the Organization of the Government dated 30 September 1992 ;

- Pursuant to the Labour Code dated 23 June 1994 ;

- Having considered the proposal made by the Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs,

DECREES

CHAPTER I

OBJECTS AND SCOPE OF COLLECTIVE LABOUR AGREEMENTS

Article 1

1. Objects and scope of collective labour agreements as stipulated in Article 2, 3 and 44 of the Labour Code shall include :

- State enterprises ;

- Enterprises belonging to other sectors of economy and any organisations or individuals recruiting or employing 10 or more workers ;

- Enterprises with foreign invested capital and enterprises belonging to export processing zones and industrial zones ;

- Foreign and international organisations and institutions which recruit 10 or more Vietnamese workers, except as otherwise provided for in international treaties which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has signed or to which it is a party.

-. Administrative organization, services with independence accounting in the administrative organs are allowed to apply some point stipulating at Article 2 of this Decree to discuss and sign a collective labour agreement.

2. Collective labour agreements do not apply to the following :

- Officials and other staff working in the State's administrative organs and organisations ;

- Persons working under mass organisations and unions or socio-political organisations ;

- Persons working in special purpose enterprises of the people's army, people's police as well as officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers thereof.

CHAPTER II

CONTENTS OF COLLECTIVE LABOUR AGREEMENTS

Article 2.

1. Essential contents of a collective labour agreement which are stipulated in Clause 2 of Article 46 of the Labour Code shall include :

a) Provisions on jobs and job guarantees :

- job guarantee measures ;

- type of labour contract for each type of work or workers ;

- labour contract termination events ;

- retirement, unemployment or temporary unemploy ment allowance regime ;

- qualification improvement or re-training in connection with technology improvement or production organisation ;

- principles of and time limits for temporary dispatching the workers to other job(s) ;

b) Provisions on working and break time :

- duration of working time per day and per week ;

- working shift organisation ; .

- duration and timing of breaks for particular jobs and professions ;

- days-off in a week and holidays ;

- annual leave (including time for travelling) ;

- leave for personal masons ;

- conditions and cases of mobilising employees for working overtime ;

c) Provisions on salary, wages,allowances and bonuses :

- minimum or average rates of salary (on monthly, daily or hourly basis) ;

- salary scale applicable in enterprises ;

- guarantee measures aimed at maintaining the purchasing power of the salary money and procedures for readjusting the salary due to changes in the market ;

- principles of salary payment (based on time spent or volume of work done, or piece work) ;

- principles of establishing and readjusting salary norms ;

- principles and conditions of improving salary status ;

- allowances and subsidies to salary ;

- pay- day;

- payments for annual leave and disbursements for travelling ;

- overtime work payments ;

- bonuses and incentives (monthly, yearly, or contingent, paid for high quality of work done or deducted from profits received) and principles of bonus/incentive payment ;

d) Provisions on working norms :

- principles and methods of establishing, piloting, promulgating, or changing working norms ;

- particular working norms applicable to each type of workers ;

- high and medium norms applied in the given enterprises ;

- handling failures to fulfil working norms ;

- principles of combining labour with material supply for piece work (if any).

e) Provisions on working security and hygiene :

- measures aimed at ensuring working security and hygiene ;

- standards for and the supply of workers' means of protection and equipment;

- health-improving regime to be paid in kind ;

- measures aimed at improving working conditions ;

- working incident and occupational disease compensation.

f) Provisions on social insurance :

- responsibilities and rights of employers and employees in contribution to, collection and payment of social insurance.

2. The parties to a labour contract may also, apart from the above-mentioned, agree upon other particular items, such as : procedures for settling disputes with workers, mid-shift eating, collective funds, funeral or marriage allowances etc.

CHAPTER III

PROCEDURE FOR NEGOTIATING OF SIGNING

AND REGISTERING COLLECTIVE LABOUR

AGREEMENTS

Article 3. The negotiating on and signing of collective labour agreement-s stipulated in Article 45 and Clause I of Article 46 of the Labour Code shall be conducted in accord ance with the procedure set out below-s :

1. The party proposing (the "proposing party") to commence a negotiation for the purpose of having a collective labour agreement executed shall have to notify the other party(ies) (the "proposed parties") of the contents to be negotiated.

In the case where a party is a collective of workers, the contents of matters to be negotiated on shall be worked out and produced by the trade union executive committee or, if not available, temporairy trade union committee of that collective.

2. The proposed party(ies) shall accept the proposal and shall as soon as practicable contact and meet the proposing party in order to reach an agreement on time, place and num ber of representatives for the negotiation.

3. Those who recruit and- employ the workers shall be responsible for organising any meeting between the parties.

The collective labour agreement of an enterprise shall be based on results of such negotiations.

4. The trade union organisation or temporary trade union organization of each workers' collective shall gather all opinions of the collective on the contents of collective labour agreements to be entered into by them.

A collective labour agreement shall not be entered into by the parties unless agreed upon by more than 50% of the members of the collective.

5. Any collective labour agreement shall have to be executed in the form attached as an annex to this Decree.

Article 4. The collection of opinions of the workers' collective on the contents of the collective labour agreement shall be carried out by way of gathering their signatures or by vote.

A proces-verbal shall be set up, which shall clearly indicate the total number of persons who were asked to give their opinions, who approved and who objected the agreement, and shall also indicate particular terms which were not approved by them and the results of voting by which such terms were rejected.

This proces-verbal shall have to be signed by a representative of the trade union executive committee of that workers' collective.

The collective labour agreement, when registered with the labour management agency; shall be produced together with the proces-verbal of opinions of the collective.

Article 5. The registration of collective labour agreements in accordance with Article 47 and Clause 3 of Article 48 of the Labour Code shall be stipulated as follows :

1. Within 10 days following the date on which the collective labour agreement is signed, the employer shall submit the same for registration to the department of labour, invalids and social affairs of the province or city directly managed by the central government, where the head office of the enterprise/organisation is located.

2. An enterprise belonging to an export processing zone or industrial zone shall submit its collective labour agreement to the management board of the zone for registering the same at the department of labour, invalids and social affairs of the province or city directly managed by the central government, where the head office of that management board is located.

3. Within 15 days following receipt of the collective labour agreement the department of labour, invalids and social affairs of the province or city directly managed by the central government shall consider the file and send to the parties a written notice of the situation with regard to the registration of their collective labour agreement, together therewith clearly indicating illegal provisions (if any) of the collective labour agreement and; where necessary, proposing amendments to be made, and such amended collective labour agreement shall be re-submitted for registration.

Article 6. In the cases of enterprises being merged in accordance with Clause 2 of Article 52 of the Labour Code and collective labour agreements have already executed by the collective working therein :

1. If after the merge no changes take place in the enterprises functions, authority and organization apparatus, then the collective labour agreements; duration of which has not expired, shall continue to be valid and enforceable until expiration of its duration or a new collective labour agreement is executed :

2. If any such change as mentioned above takes place, then the collective labour agreements shall cease to be valid and enforceable and the parties shall negotiate in order to, within 6 months following the date of the merge, sign a new collective labour agreement.

CHAPTER IV

IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS

Article 7. This Decree shall come into force as of 01 January 1995 and shall replace all previous regulations on collective labour agreements.

Any provisions of any collective labour agreements having already been executed and implemented which are contrary to this Decree shall, within 6 months following the date of this Decree coming into force, be amended and supplemented, and such amended or supplemented terms shall be negotiated on, re-signed and re-registered in the procedure stipulated in the Labour Code and this Decree.

Article 8. The Ministry of Labour, Invalid and Social Affairs shall in co-ordination with Federal Trade Union of Vietnam ogranise on an experimental ground the establishment of a collective labour agreement which would cover all labour-related matters for an entire branch of economy (the "branch collective labour agreement"), after which it shall submit for consideration to the Government a draft regulation thereon.

Article 9. Heads of government ministries, ministrylevel organs and offices of the Government and chairmen of people's committees of provinces and cities directly managed by the central government are responsible for the implementation of this Decree.

PP THE GOVERNMENT

PRIME MINISTER

VO VAN KIET

Annex

FORM OF COLLECTIVE LABOUR AGREEMENT

(issued along with Decree 196/CP dated 31 December 1994 of the Governmen)

[Name of enterprise]                                                                  SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM

[Address]                                                                                      Independence - Freedom - Happiness

                                                                                                                            **********

COLLECTIVE LABOUR AGREEMENT

To guarantee the rights and obligations of the parties to labour relationships, representatives of the parties comprising:

l. Employer : [name of employer]

Represented by : [name of representative]

Post/Title :[                      ]

2. Representative of the labour collective :

Name : [                              ]

Title : [                             ]

Address : [                        ]

have entered into this Collective Labour Agreement (the "Agreement") under the following terms and conditions :

I. GENERAL PROVISIONS

II. CONTENTS OF THE AGREEMENT

• Jobs and job guarantees : [...................................................]

• Working and break time : [ ................................................]

• Salary, bonuses, allowances : I ............:..................:.........]

• Working norms : [ ...............................................................]

• Working security and hygiene : [ ....................................]

• Social insurance : [.............................................................]

• Others provisions as the parties may consider necessary.

III. IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS

• . Undertaking to fulfil each party's responsibility for the implementation of the Agreement :[................................................................]

• . Procedure for settling any labour disputes : [..................................................................................................]

• . Validity and enforceability of the Agreement and the repeal of any of the enterprise's rules contrary to the Agreement.

This Collective Labour Agreement is executed at [          ] this ...., day of....... 199.... and registered at [                   ].

REPRESENTATIVE OF THE                                                                                              REPRESENTATIVE OF THE

WORKERS' COLLECTIVE                                                                                                                  EMPLOYER    

               [Title]                                                                                                                                        [Post / Title]

    (Signature and Seal)                                                                                                                  (Signature and seal)