Abstract
The transition from a centrally planned economy to a market economy has created favorable conditions for many businesses, especially foreign direct invested enterprises. This process has created a completely different environment for labor relations in enterprises. Accordingly, the relations between employees and employers are no longer in similar forms or can be adjusted by state administrative interventions as before. The difference in benefits between employers and employees is becoming more and more significant, which is reflected the most in the number of strikes and labor disputes that have been continuously increasing and happening throughout the country over the recent years. Strikes have been happening continuously and increasing in terms of quantity, scale and complexity over the past few years and they have greatly affected business results of enterprises as well as have reversed employees' lives and caused other social problems. According to the Ministry of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs, Vietnam, since 1995, when the Labor Code took effect, so far, the country has had more than 6,400 strikes, of which those of FDI enterprises account for more than 70%. Among the strikes taken place in FDI enterprises, those occurred in the Southern Key Economic Zone represented 70% of those that happened in FDI enterprises nationwide.
Highlights
Over the past few years, the Vietnamese Government has been putting effort into building and refinement of law and regulations as well as improving industrial relation regulations
Most of the strikes occurred in FDIs, triple the rate of those in private economic sectors, and almost very few strikes in state-owned enterprises (Figure 12), and they're usually had no supports from the grass-root level trade unions and Vietnam General Confederation of Labor
Despite numerous legal changes in the early 1990s, given the four times of amendment and revision of the Labor Code which lay the foundation for labor-management negotiations at the workplace, in South Korean and Taiwanese FDI enterprises, grassroots-level trade unions are often dominated by senior managers and unions only act as extension arms of employers
Summary
Over the past few years, the Vietnamese Government has been putting effort into building and refinement of law and regulations as well as improving industrial relation regulations. The Southern Key Economic Region includes Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai, Ba Ria- Vung Tau, Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc, Long An, Tien Giang, and Tay Ninh Provinces. It has an area of around 30,524 square kilometers, makes up 9.2% of Vietnam, with a population of 19.7 million at the end of 2016 (Minh Hanh, 2017). According to the statistics of the Foreign Investment Agency, exports from the FDI sector (including that of crude oil) in the eleven months of 2017 reached 140.65 billion USD in 2017, which increased by 22.8% compared to that of the same period of the previous year, this figure accounted for 72.6% exported turnover. The total National Budget collected as of 15 December 2017 is about 1,104 thousand billion VND and that collected from FDIs (excluding crude oil) is about 153.9 thousand billion VND, equal to 14% (FIA, 2017)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
