VietNamNet Bridge – President of the Committee of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front (VFF), Nguyen Thien Nhan, has called on relevant agencies to strengthen the enforcement of the social insurance law to protect workers' rights.

Doctors on Phu Yen Province's Labour Federation-organised health team do check-ups and provide medicine for workers at An Phu Industrial Zone, as part of the social insurance programme.

Nhan praised the implementation of an inter-agency inspection programme on social insurance.

He was speaking at a conference on Wednesday to review the programme undertaken by the Viet Nam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL), the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA), the Government Inspectorate - and the Viet Nam Social Insurance Agency (VSIA).

Nhan said he was concerned about negative findings revealed by the inspection, saying that all of the inspected business enterprises had violated social-insurance legislation, particularly by slow payments of money.

A report at the conference revealed that from September last year, more than 5,200 enterprises in the provinces of Hung Yen, Bac Giang, Ba Ria-Vung Tau and Tien Giang had evaded paying contributions worth VND520 billion (US$23.9 million) to the social-insurance fund.

The VGCL inspectors also discovered other violations of the social-insurance law in enterprises based in the provinces.

They said there was no close collaboration between State agencies in the enforcement of the social insurance law in these regions.

According to VGLC President Dang Ngoc Tung, Viet Nam still has about 5.5 million workers uncovered by social insurance. Workers' rights under social insurance were also not fully safeguarded.

Deputy Chief Inspector of the Government Inspectorate, Tran Duc Luong, said almost all of 1,261 inspected enterprises had delayed social-insurance payments.

Luong said while a total of VND408 million (nearly US$20,000) had been collected and contributed to insurance fund, many firms tried to evade payments by signing contracts of less than three months with labourers.

Among enterprises that owed social and health insurance, more than 8,000 had ceased operations, including 200 foreign companies. Another 7,000 companies with more than 30,000 employees were also said to be ignoring the social-insurance agency.

Statistics from the MoLISA showed the number of people subject to compulsory social insurance was 16 million people, but only 11 million workers were covered.

The other five million workers were alleged to have no social insurance because they had signed short-term contracts.

That's why the National Assembly hopes to include short-term contracts in the Social Insurance Law.

VFF president Nhan said MoLISA would soon offer guidance on the implementation of the Government decree on wages so that employers can provide insurance contributions.

VNS