Employee Perceptions of Collective Bargaining Agreements

Domestic is no exception. In fact, the level of understanding of employees and employers in these enterprises is still limited.

- For workers

Currently, labor relations are only taught to a very small number of human resource managers. In other professions, labor relations are not even mentioned in the training program, especially in short-term training programs for low-skilled workers. As a result, young workers who are just starting to participate in labor relations do not have basic knowledge about labor relations.

Table 2.4: Workers' awareness of collective labor agreements

Criteria

Awareness	Rate in Product export	by field (%) Trade and Services		Shared
Receive	A requirement of labor law	11.1	7.6	9.1	8.9
consciousness of	Document signed between union and business leaders	25	25.8	31.8	27.4

NLĐ about
	Negotiation results between employee representatives and businesses	61.1	53	52.3	54.8
nature
belong to
	Don't know	2.8	13.6	6.8	8.9
Collective Bargaining Agreement
	Total	100	100	100	100

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Source: Survey results of 166 SMEs in Hanoi

In reality, many young workers from rural areas come to the city to work in small and medium enterprises. Before that, these people had to work in a self-sufficient agricultural environment, with high labor intensity, harsh working conditions but very low labor productivity and income. Therefore, they are very easy to accept new working conditions and flexible (even somewhat arbitrary) behavioral mechanisms of enterprises. What they care about first and only is salary (in comparison with the income from previous agricultural work). To properly assess the awareness of workers about labor relations, we can refer to the survey results in Table 2.4.

Collective bargaining agreement is one of the most fundamental issues of labor relations. Awareness of collective bargaining agreement reflects the basic knowledge of employees about labor relations in the enterprise. Survey results show that only 54.8% of employees answered correctly that the nature of labor relations is "the result of negotiation between employee representatives and enterprises".

Notably, up to 8.9% of surveyed employees do not know the nature of the labor relationship. A large proportion (27.4%) of surveyed employees have the misconception that: "The nature of the collective labor agreement is a document signed between the union and the enterprise's leaders". This is only the written form of the collective labor agreement. The collective labor agreement must reflect the consensus in the relationship of interests on issues of mutual concern between employees and employers. Therefore, it must be the result of real negotiations between employees and employers. This misconception will lead to employees disregarding the role of the collective labor agreement, completely leaving the construction of the collective labor agreement to the union and employers.

Workers in the manufacturing sector have a better understanding of collective bargaining agreements than those in the trade and service sectors. Only 2.8% do not know the nature of collective bargaining agreements while 61.1% of people have a correct understanding of the nature of collective bargaining agreements.

- For employers

The level of understanding of employers can be indirectly assessed through survey results on their awareness of the nature of collective bargaining or their awareness of employee representative organizations at the enterprise.

Table 2.5: Employers' awareness of collective bargaining agreements

Criteria

Awareness Rate (%)
	A requirement of labor law 9.1
Awareness of
	Document signed between union and business leaders 27.3
NSDLĐ about
	Negotiation results between employee representatives and enterprises 56.5
the nature of
	Unknown 7.1
Collective Bargaining Agreement
	Total100

Source: Survey results of 166 SMEs in Hanoi

The survey results show that employers’ awareness of the collective bargaining agreement is not much better than that of employees. Only 56.5% of respondents (87 people) still have a correct understanding of the nature of the collective bargaining agreement. The main reason is that leaders of small and medium-sized enterprises have less qualifications than those of large enterprises and have not been trained in law and labor relations.

Currently, QHLĐ has not been included in the training support programs of the SME Support Center or the Business Incubator under the Department of Planning and Investment.

from Hanoi. On the other hand, the current business establishment procedures are quite open, making the knowledge level of business owners very uneven. Many business owners have low professional qualifications.

In Hanoi, there are currently very few training courses on labor relations for SME owners. Recently, with the support of the ILO and the Embassy of Nay, Vietnamese partners such as VCCI and the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs have piloted a number of short-term training courses (from 2 to 5 days) on social dialogue for trade union officials, business managers, and state management officials. However, almost no small and medium enterprises in Hanoi have been invited to attend.

Regarding the awareness of employers towards the organization representing employees, up to 33.5% of respondents (53 people) have an incorrect perception of the role of the Trade Union. Of these, 17.7% (28 people) believe that the most important task of the Trade Union is to organize activities to improve the material and spiritual life of employees, 15.8% (25 people) believe that the most important task of the Trade Union is to harmonize the relationship between employees and employers.

Therefore, to promote healthy labor relations in SMEs in Hanoi, the City Government and relevant agencies need to pay more attention to raising awareness of both employees and employers.

Skills in establishing labor relations

Skills for establishing labor relations in the workplace include information sharing skills, consultation skills, negotiation skills, skills for synthesizing and analyzing employee opinions, skills for responding to employee opinions, and skills for implementing and monitoring agreements between employees and employers.

In small and medium enterprises in Hanoi, both employees, union officials and employers do not have the necessary skills to establish labor relations and social dialogue at the workplace in accordance with the market mechanism. As a result, labor relations at the workplace are not established in a sustainable manner, and the system of social dialogue at the workplace is either non-existent or unscientific.

For example, many workers today are not fully aware of the importance of labor contracts. Therefore, when signing a labor contract, they (nearly 20% of those surveyed) only read some of the main contents such as salary and job content without paying attention to other working conditions. In particular, some workers are willing to sign a labor contract without reading the content.

2.3.1.4. Workers' adaptability to the labor market

The relationship between the buyer and seller of labor is governed by the labor market. Therefore, the adaptability of employees is an important factor in labor relations at the workplace. If employees have a good understanding of the labor market and are able to find good job information, they will adapt better to the fluctuations of the labor market. This will lead to two consequences: Employees will have reasonable expectations of the enterprise and/or be willing to leave the enterprise if the labor relationship is not good.

Therefore, in order to establish healthy labor relations in the enterprise, employees need to have knowledge about labor relations as well as the ability to adapt well to the labor market. That ability can be recognized through the ability of employees to find jobs.

Table 2.6: Job search ability of employees

Criteria

Ability		Number of people	fruit Proportion (%)
The ability of employees to search for jobs on the Internet	Don't know how to find		5	3.2
	Know the basics		77	48.7
	Proficient		76	48.1
		Total	158	100

Source: Survey results of 166 SMEs in Hanoi

The Internet is becoming an increasingly popular and effective job search tool. The ability of employees to search for jobs on the Internet not only assesses their qualifications but also their ability to search for information to adapt to the labor market. According to the survey results, up to 48.1% of employees can search for jobs on the Internet proficiently. This figure in manufacturing enterprises is 43%. Meanwhile, only 3.2% do not know how to search for jobs on the Internet, the rest have a basic understanding.

That is, workers have the ability to adapt relatively well to the labor market.

Therefore, employees will have reasonable expectations about wages and working conditions for their current workplace. If there is no opportunity to negotiate, they will proactively leave the company to find other better jobs. This is especially true when the supply and demand for the same type of untrained labor is quite large.

2.3.1.5. Representative capacity of grassroots trade union organizations

The representative capacity of the trade union organization is demonstrated through the democracy in the process of electing the trade union executive committee, the qualifications of trade union officials, and the effectiveness of the trade union executive committee's operations.

Trade unions mainly exist in medium-sized enterprises. It is rare for small and micro-sized enterprises to have trade unions. However, in reality, the effectiveness of trade union activities in these enterprises is very low. Activities are still mainly formalistic such as organizing competitions, picnics, cultural and sports activities, visiting the sick, etc. Representative activities to protect the interests of employees such as negotiation, dispute resolution, contributing ideas to management, and improving employees' capacity in labor relations are still very limited.

One of the reasons is that the qualifications of workers are still limited, so it is very difficult to find qualified union officials who are workers or employees. Therefore, there is still a large proportion of union officials who are business managers. The survey results show that up to 39.3% of union officials in enterprises are business managers. Meanwhile, the current training system for union officials still has many limitations in terms of quantity as well as training content and methods.

Table 2.7: Professional qualifications of union cadres

(People) (%)

Results Criteria Training type Quantity Percentage

Vocational training situation of grassroots trade union officials office	Self-study and practical experience 17 60.7
	Attend short-term training courses on trade unions 10 35.7
	Formal union training 1 3.6
	Total 28 100

Source: Survey results of 166 SMEs in Hanoi

Among the surveyed enterprises, only 3.6% received formal training on trade unions. Meanwhile, up to 60.7% of trade union officials did not receive any professional training. The rest attended short-term training courses. These training courses mainly focused on contents related to labor law and movement activities, not focusing much on contents such as social dialogue in the workplace, negotiation skills, problem synthesis and analysis skills, etc. Students who received formal training at the Trade Union University often work at state-owned enterprises or large companies.

Regarding the law, up to 51.7% of union officials have very limited or basic knowledge of labor law. Therefore, up to 62.1% of union officials believe that implementing labor law in enterprises is difficult and very difficult. Only 37.9% believe that it is possible to implement labor law in enterprises. Similarly, only 79.3% of union officials have a correct understanding of the tasks of the grassroots trade union. In particular, only 14.3% of union officials have a correct understanding that collective labor agreements are the result of negotiations between representatives of employees and employers.

Another reason for the low representation of the grassroots trade unions is the independence between the grassroots trade unions and the enterprise leaders. This is most clearly shown in the intervention of the enterprise leaders in the election of union officials and the financial dependence of the grassroots trade unions on the enterprise. The attitude and practical impact of employers on the election of union officials can be seen clearly in Table 2.8.

Table 2.8: Impact of business leadership on union elections

Criteria Degree of Domination Quantity Ratio

(People) (%)

Result

Subjective assessment of union officials on the influence of employers on the results of union election	0% 1 3.4
	20% 11 37.9
	40% 8 27.6
	> 60% 9 31.1
	Total 29 100

Source: Survey results of 166 SMEs in Hanoi

The survey results show that the results of union elections are greatly influenced by business leaders. Only 3.4% of union officials believe that business leaders do not influence the election results. Meanwhile, up to 31.1% of union officials believe that in their enterprises, business leaders influence over 60% of the election results. This clearly violates the principle of relative independence between entities and weakens the representativeness of unions.

In addition, when interviewing union officials directly, many people said that union officials are always under the influence and pressure of employers, union officials are part-time and financially dependent on employers, and their main work. Meanwhile, union officials are not effectively protected by law and have not received timely and effective support from higher-level unions.

Therefore, to harmonize the relationship between individuals (union officials) and the collective of workers, between workers and employers, union officials only focus on movement activities and visiting workers.

Table 2.9: Performance of grassroots trade union executive committee

Criteria

Mission	Conclude Number (People)	fruit	Proportion (%)
Employee evaluation of the best completed tasks of the Trade Union	Protecting workers' rights	18	24.3
	Maintain stability in business	15	20.3
	Organize movement activities	28	37.8
	Only form exists	13	17.6
	Total	74	100

Source: Survey results of 166 SMEs in Hanoi

The survey results show that very few workers (24.3%) believe that union officials do the best job of protecting workers’ rights. Meanwhile, the best job union officials do is to organize movement activities (37.8%). Notably, 17.6% believe that unions only exist in a formal way. The statistics show that workers’ trust in union officials is very low.

On the other hand, when asking employees about the position of the union president, 12.9% of respondents did not know whether the current grassroots union president was a manager or an employee. This shows that employees have little interest in the activities of the grassroots union executive committee.

Therefore, to improve the representative capacity of grassroots trade union organizations, on the one hand, we need to increase training courses and establish information exchange forums to improve the professional qualifications of grassroots trade union officials. On the other hand, the State needs to amend the law in the direction of controlling the election process, better protecting grassroots trade union officials and improving the effective support capacity of grassroots trade unions.

2.3.2. Analysis of attitudes of labor relations subjects at the workplace

The attitudes of the subjects of labor relations will determine the natural behavioral tendencies of each party when a problem arises. The attitudes of the subjects towards each other are positive or negative depending on their perception, understanding and trust in each other.

Positive attitudes lead to cooperative actions. Negative attitudes lead to competitive actions.

2.3.2.1. Attitude of employers towards employees and grassroots unions

The attitude of employers towards employees is a complex and sustainable logical structure. It is gradually formed based on the awareness and belief of employers towards employees or trade unions. The awareness, belief and attitude of employers can be analyzed through the following observations.

On the awareness of employers towards employees and trade unions

Employers' perception of labor is reflected in their assessment of the value of employees in the labor market as well as their concept of employee motivation.

Table 2.10: Employers' perceptions of employee motivation

(People) (%)

Results Criteria Management method Quantity Percentage

Employers' perceptions of best management practices	Pay well 78 49
	Perfecting the monitoring mechanism 6 3.8
	Respect for employees 13 8.2
	Create development opportunities for employees 62 39
	Total 159 100

Source: Survey results of 166 SMEs in Hanoi

The value of employees is not highly appreciated in the perception of employers. This will lead to a negative attitude of employers in policies to improve labor relations to retain employees.

Indeed, the majority of employers believe that recruiting suitable employees is not too difficult nowadays. That is, when an employee leaves the company, recruiting a replacement is not too difficult (Only 9.3% think it is very difficult). This observation is consistent with the general assessment of the current Vietnamese labor market: Labor supply is dominating labor demand.

Regarding motivation, the majority of employers have the right perception of employee motivation, believing that the strongest motivation for employees is salary and development opportunities. Up to 88% of employers believe that the best way to improve

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