HCM CITY (ILO News) – The Better Work Viet Nam (BWV) programme in collaboration with various partners organized a series of virual workshops in July and August to support enterprises in combating the fourth wave of COVID-19 outbreaks.

The first event co-organized by the Viet Nam Chamber of Industry and Trade - HCM City branch (VCCI-HCM) took place on 6 July. as the pandemic hit many industrial parks and manufacturing clusters, affecting the lives of millions of workers.

The panel of industry leaders included Nguyen Anh Tho, Deputy Director of the Department of Work Safety and Health, Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA); Tran Anh Thanh, Viet Nam Health Environment Management Agency, Ministry of Health; Vo Tan Thanh, Vice President of VCCI and Director of VCCI-HCM, and Nguyen Hong Ha, BWV Programme Manager among other factory representatives of Canon Vietnam Co., Ltd, Avery Dennison Vietnam Co., Ltd, and First Team Vietnam Garment Ltd..

Designed to be participatory and informative, the workshop encouraged participants to share lessons learned and practical examples of what had been done in their factories that could be tailored and applied in other factories to mitigate the COVID-19 impacts.

With approximately 400 participants from both Better Work and non-Better Work participating factories, the participants analyzed the good practices and discussed the prevention measures and policy responses to cope with the pandemic.
The discussion also offered an opportunity for the government agencies to communicate with enterprises and share COVID-19 prevention regulations and guidance in the workplace issued by the Ministry of Health.

Nguyen Anh Tho highlighted the importance of the close collaboration between the policy makers, local government agencies and enterprises. He also presented some challenges in the implementation strategy with two new government decisions (Decision No. 2194/QĐ-BCĐQG and Decision No. 2787/QD-BYT).

Focused on prevention, control and assessment of COVID-19 infection risk, and mitigation plans, these regulations are references for the factories when coping with having COVID-19 cases at the production and business establishments or industrial parks. These regulations were developed to assist enterprises in proactively early detecting and promptly handling suspected cases of COVID-19 at production and business units, industrial zones/groups, and ensuring safe production. The intention is to achieve dual goals of containing the pandemic and recovering the economy, to limit the negative impact of COVID-19 on economic development and social security of Viet Nam.

“COVID-19 has already had a huge social impact, leaving many risks for Vietnam’s enterprises. Now is the time for unity,” said Nguyen Anh Tho. “I believe that we will be able to fully control and come through this situation if we work together. I hope that both employers and employees will strictly comply with the regulations issued by the Ministry and Health, strengthen their connections and re-ignite creativity to win against this pandemic.”

In August-September 2021, BWV also coordinated with MOLISA’s Labour Inspectorate and VCCI to organize a series of online seminars on new social insurance regulations and policies to support employees and businesses and business continuity plan for enterprises in the context of COVID-19 pandemic”. These online events were joined by more than 500 participants including both BWV and non-BWV participating factories.

Better Work is a joint programme of the ILO and the International Finance Corporation to improve working conditions in the garment and footwear industry and make the sector more competitive.