The draft of the Labor Code submitted to the National Assembly included 17 chapters and 220 articles, with 10 new points for laborers and six new points for employers.

From left: Do Hoa, Nguyen Duy Hung, Do Cao Bao

These include a regulation on official and extra working hours. The opinions about this vary among National Assembly Deputies.

Do Hoa, CEO of Tinh Hoa Quan Tri Consultancy

The decision on whether to increase extra working hours must be made by insiders, that is, the people to be covered by the law.

First, the workers and their representatives at the National Assembly are Trade Union delegates. It is necessary to consider the possible impact of the Labor Code on laborers’ health, their families, income and accumulation.

The government has signed international treaties on labor and human rights and it takes the responsibility of ensuring that Vietnamese laws do not violate the international treaties Vietnam has signed.

Second, the subjects also include employers, or businesses, and their representatives at the National Assembly are professional institutions, associations and businesspeople. The law will determine the production cost of enterprises, and therefore, affect their competitiveness in the market.

Third, the government. The law is expected to have a big impact on the implementation of the government’s socio-economic development strategy. Overall, the law will affect the development and competitiveness of Vietnam’s economy.

The government has signed international treaties on labor and human rights and it takes the responsibility of ensuring that Vietnamese laws do not violate the international treaties Vietnam has signed.

The final decision will be made based on negotiations among the three parties.

Nguyen Duy Hung, chair and CEO of the Saigon Securities Incorporated

The salary of employees is deducted from the enterprise's income from production and business. So, in order to increase the income of employees and reduce working hours, it is necessary to increase businesses’ efficiency.

The efficiency depends on many factors, including the two most important factors - state policies and worker performance.

So, the policies need to be designed in a way to help enhance enterprises’ efficiency. If not, enterprises will go bankrupt.

Do Cao Bao, deputy CEO of FPT

In Japan, the third largest economy in the world, the number of extra working hours is 45 a month and 360 hours a year.

The maximum number of extra working hours in Taiwan is 54 a month and 648 a year. In South Korea, the maximum number of extra hours has just been cut from 28 to 12 a week, or from 1,200 to 550 hours a year.

Vietnam is poorer than Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and Singapore. It entered the market economy later. And its competitiveness lags far behind them. The number of extra working hours is between 25 and 55 percent of theirs.

Kim Chi

Labor Code should put more emphasis on contracts: ILO

It is not necessary to add more details on paper but to make sure that what is already on paper fits the needs of employees and employers, International Labour Organization (ILO) Senior Advisor on Standards Policy Tim De Meyer said.  

Amended labor code draft could weaken Vietnam's competitiveness: economists

Economists have voiced their disappointment about the draft of the amended labor code, saying that the competitiveness of the national economy will weaken because of rigid regulations on extra working hours and wages.