Vietnam

Relevant Legislation
Labour Code of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 23 June 1994 (Amended 2 April 2002)10

Types of Disputes Recognised
Article 157 of the Vietnamese Labour Code recognises two varieties of labour dispute: individual and collective. The Code describes a labour dispute as: ‘a dispute about rights and benefits relating to employment, wages, incomes, and other labour conditions; about performance of the labour contract and the collective agreement; and about issues which arise during a training or apprenticeship period’.

Resolution of Disputes
Article 158 of the Labour Code stipulates that labour disputes are to be resolved according to the following principles:

1. Direct negotiation and conciliation between the disputing parties at the place where  the dispute arises.
2. Conciliation and arbitration on the basis of mutual respect of rights and benefits, respect of general social benefits, and compliance with the law.
3. A labour dispute must be resolved publicly, objectively, in a timely manner, quickly, and in compliance with the law.
4. The trade union organisation of the enterprise and the representative of the employer must participate in the resolution process of the labour dispute.

Should the conciliation fail then the labour dispute is to be referred on to a labour dispute resolution body [Article 159]. The labour dispute resolution body may request the parties to the dispute to provide documents or other evidence, and may call on an expert or witnesses to give testimony [Article 161]. The labour dispute resolution bodies mandated to hear disputes are labour conciliatory councils and people’s courts.

Resolution of Individual Labour Disputes: The labour conciliatory council of the enterprise in question will commence conciliatory proceedings within seven days of being notified of an individual labour dispute [Article 164]. Both parties must be present at conciliation meetings. A resolution shall be proposed and if accepted by both parties a settlement will be reached. However, in the event that conciliation fails, or in the event that a disputing party is absent at conciliation meetings two times in a row without proper reason, a non-settelement statement will be issued by the labour conciliation body, and one or both of the parties may request the matter to be heard by a people’s court. The people’s court is also mandated to hear certain types of labour disputes at first instance, including disputes relating to compensation payouts and disputes relating to unilateral terminations of contracts [Arti cle 166(2)].

Resolution of Collective Labour Disputes: Labour conciliatory councils, provincial labour arbitration councils and the people’s court are mandated to resolve collective labour disputes [Article 168]. If conciliation fails at conciliatory council level then it may be referred on to the provincial labour arbitration council, which has ten days to commence proceedings aft er receiving the request [Article 171]. Representatives of both parties must be present during the hearing [Article 171]. Where parties are unable to reach a resolution the labour arbitration council may make a decision [Article 171(3)]. If either of the parties is unhappy with the decision they may appeal the decision to the people’s court [Article 172]. If the labour collective is unhappy they may also choose to strike [Article 172].

Endnotes
10 Labour Code of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 23/06/1994, (amended 2 /04/2002), available at http://www.global-standards.com/Resources/VNLaborCode1994-2002.pdf (accessed 16/05/11).