Why independent unionism does not arise under the 2019 Labour Law in Vietnam?

The 2019 Vietnamese Labour Law, coming into effect on 1st January 2021, allows for the establishment of workers’ representative organisations, namely Internal Employee Organisations (IEOs), tổ chức của người lao động tại doanh nghiệp, independent from official trade unions of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour. This reflects widespread endemic industrial conflicts marked by illegal strikes led by unofficial workers’ representatives in the absence of effective trade union representation resulting in internal pressure from employers, and also partly as a result of external pressures from international organisations such as the ILO and members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Now that the legislation sets out a legal perimeter for IEOs, at equal footing with unions albeit bound to the local level, we discuss the factors that hinder their formation. This legislative initiative can be seen as a step towards industrial democracy and there is the potential to see a change of course in Vietnamese industrial relations and representative dynamics at the workplace level. However, whether and how this would eventuate remains an empirical matter. Thus far, it has not. Wildcat strikes and clandestine workers’ organisation persist because, among other factors we outline, it works effectively.

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New Labour Regimes in Contemporary Southeast Asia, Penang International Conference

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