COMMITTEE TO PROTECT VIETNAMESE WORKERS

COMMITTEE TO PROTECT VIETNAMESE WORKERS

                           Warynskiego 3 Str. 00-645 Warszawa; Poland

              Email: baovelaodong@gmail.com; tl: +48880 360594;+61440 466848.

International Trade Union Confederation

Boulevard du Roi Albert II, 5, Bte 1

1210 Brussels, BELGIUM

                    Re: Application of Vietnam General Confederation of Labor to join ITUC

Dear M. Jaap Wienen,

                    We are the Committee to Protect Vietnamese Workers (CPVW), an international organization formed in October 2006 in Warsaw, Poland, with branches now operating in Poland, Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Holland, Canada and the United States. We have been tasked to represent the interests of free trade unions in Vietnam, as all trade union activities in that country are monopolized by the government, thus stifling the growth of truly free trade unionism in a nation of 90 million people.  Many of our members are cumulating also leadership positions in major Vietnamese organizations around the world.

                    We are writing to you to protest the steps being taken by Hanoi to try to gain admission into ITUC for the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor (VGCL). 

                    The reason we do so is based upon a well-known fact that Vietnam is still a dictatorial regime completely run by the Communist Party.  The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) writes itself into the Vietnamese Constitution (Article 4) monopolizing power and allowing for no other voice outside itself.  It is the one political party that controls all political, economic and social activities in Vietnam.  All civil societies, including the trade unions, are founded by the CPV and run by CPV members, thus constituting satellite and adjunct organizations to the only legal party that exists in the country.  The Vietnam General Confederation of Labor is no different.  Its president is Mr. Dang Ngoc Tung, a member of the CPV Central Committee, and everyone of its leading cadres from the center down to its lowest unit is a full-fledged member of the CPV.  In other words it is a sham organization formed in 1946 and it follows closely all policies and lines set forth by the CPV.  Even its Bylaws say: "The VGCL is a member of the political apparatus led by the VCP."  As a result, all of its activities are mere implementations of CPV instructions, and the CPV tightly controls all workers' activities.

                    Since 1986, in the face of deep crises affecting both the economy and politics of the country, the CPV, in order to save its skin, has had to shift from a subsidized economy to a market economy and called on foreign capital to invest in the country.  Because of this shift, a workers class has begun to develop vigorously.  This class which used to be tiny before 1986, has since grown to over 10 million persons; and this does not include the hundreds of thousands of young Vietnamese laborers  who are exported every year to go to many countries around the world, especially to ASEAN countries.

         In Vietnam, the workers are greatly exploited, they have to work from 10 to 15 hours a day in an egregious work environment, yet they are paid only about 70 dollars a month, the lowest rate obtained in all ASEAN countries.

                    Furthermore, many of the workers are humiliated and beaten by their factory bosses.  Unable to stand those conditions, the Vietnamese workers have risen up to demand that their interests be respected.  Since 1995, for instance, there have been over 3,000 strikes organized by the workers themselves.  The Vietnam General Confederation of Labor not only refused to support the strikers, its representatives even side with the foreign bosses so as to threaten the striking workers with dire consequences or become informers for the police to arrest the strike leaders.

                    In the face of such injustice, on 20 October 2006, those interested in the plight of Vietnamese workers have established the "Independent Vietnam Trade Union" so as to fight for and protect the interests of the working class.  As it responded to a real need, the Independent Vietnam Trade Union was greeted with great joy and found strong resonance among the workers.  The Vietnamese communist authorities responded with direct repression and many of its leaders were arrested and given stiff sentences: Attorney Nguyen Van Dai, Attorney Le Thi Cong Nhan, Doan Huy Chuong etc.  Those who escaped arrest had to go into clandestinity and operate under a new name, Vietnam Labor Movement, as the government declared all strikes to be illegal.

                    On 30 January 2008, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung issued resolution No. 11/2008/ND-CP forbidding all workers to join strikes and using heavy punishments toward the strike organizers.  The VGCL fully supported the prime minister's resolution.

                    Despite such regulations, the workers kept on striking because the bosses, in collusion with the authorities, regularly cheated them of their salaries and considered them as slaves.  And those fighting on behalf of the workers interests continued to be repressed.

                    On 26 October 2010, the Tra Vinh court sentenced three members of the Vietnam Labor Movement to lengthy prison terms: Nguyen Hoang Quoc Hung, 29, was given nine years in jail, Do Thi Minh Hanh, a girl of 25, was given seven years, and so was Doan Huy Chuong, 25, who received seven years simply because they helped the workers to fight for their interests.

                    The Vietnamese authorities consider such social organizations like the Independent Vietnam Trade Union (IVTU) and the Vietnam Labor Movement (VLM) as illegal associations despite the fact that the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), in Article 79, clearly stipulates that "a citizen has freedom of association."  In order to consolidate their voices in an effort to help the workers, in September 2010, the three organizations, IVTU, VLM and CPVW have come together to form the Free Vietnam Trade Union, and on 1 March 2011 the latter has written to General Secretary Jaap Wienen, to ask that we be allowed to join as a member of ITUC.

                    In order to prevent strikes that advocate the protection of workers interests, on 17 June 2011, in a working session with the CPV General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, the president of VGCL, Mr. Dang Ngoc Tung, who at the same time is a member of the Central Committee of the CPV, has proposed that the government issue instructions to the Ministry of Public Security, to the various provinces and cities, that they take professional measures to root out and deal with those who help the workers, the so-called "black gangs" who help the workers organize strike.  It is thus clear that the VGCL is no more than an instrument in the hands of the VCP, it cannot possibly represent the interests of both the workers class and of the many other laborers in Vietnam.

                    Only the Free Vietnam Trade Union is an organization that supports and protects the legitimate interests of the Vietnamese workers and laborers of Vietnam.  That is why it has applied to become a member of ITUC.  We hope to hear positively from you soon.

         Please accept our sincere thanks and greetings.

Sincerely yours,

On behalf of the Leadership Team

Free Vietnam Trade Union

Trần Ngoc Thành (Representative)

  Đoàn Việt Trung (Secretary General)