VietNamNet Bridge – Workers in some business fields nowadays tend to hire others to undertake their works, while they themselves would take other jobs which can bring higher incomes.

The optimal solution

The solution has been chosen by the workers who get tired for their current jobs because of the modest income, but still want to retain their names in the companies’ wage funds, which would allow them to receive pensions after the retirement.

NTN, a worker of the Hanoi Environment Sanitation Company, said she now does not want to walk the streets with dust casts to collect rubbish. She would rather stay at home to take care of the grandchild. Her main income source does not come from the job at the company, but from the rented rooms.

“I am going to retire in some years. Therefore, I try to keep working for the company, so that I can enjoy pensions after the retirement,” she said.

Since N does not want to spend time on the job, N has asked a scrap iron dealer to take the job, for which N would pay her every month. As such, N now only has to go to the company’s head office to receive salaries, attend meetings and other activities.

The agreement between N and the scrap iron dealer has benefited both of them. N has more time to take care for the grandchild, while T, the scrap iron dealer, can get more money.

“I only receive 2.5 million dong a month when I undertake N’s job. However, this is still good for me because I can earn more money. I would appreciate any opportunity to make money,” she said.

TTH’s job is the same as N’s. However, H has been satisfactory with her salaries. She said that it is really a hard work to collect rubbish in hospital areas, but she can earn extra money for working in a noxious environment.

H said proudly that a lot of female workers want her job, because it allows workers to live well with it. Sometimes patients throw away the personal effects in good condition, which H can re-use or sell for money.

X., who undertakes the work for H, said that though she receives 2 million dong a month only from X, she can earn 5 million dong a month with the job, because she can earn “extra money.” Five million dong is really an attractive income for unskilled workers; therefore, X said she would try to work, though she knows this would badly affect her health.

It seems that the labor market has been arranged by the laborers themselves. Q and H, who have their names listed in the payroll of a telecom company as employees, turn out to be the bosses as well.

The duties of Q and H as the workers of the telecom company are to install telephone or Internet lines and fix errors for clients. However, the job has been transferred to two university students, who wear the telco’s uniform and go to see clients everyday. Meanwhile, Q and H are busy working as taxi drivers.

“We are the workers who only have vocational school degrees. Therefore, it would be better to assign the students, who have deeper knowledge. The job would help both us and them earn more money,” Q explained.

Though the hired workers have to work hard for money, they have to conceal their works, because clients would refuse unskilled workers.

Manh Hung, a local resident in Hoang Mai district in Hanoi has noted that the hired workers prove to be very industrious, but they are not skillful enough, which may cause trouble in the future.

Hoang Mai