Vietnam eager to capitalise on opportunities presented by TPP but ban on trade unions may need to be scrapped as part of reforms
Vietnam is projected to see the biggest percentage boost to the economy of any country in the TPP – about 10 per cent by 2030, mostly thanks to textiles and apparel.
After organising communist Vietnam’s first peaceful mass strike at a shoe factory, labour activist Do Thi Minh Hanh was arrested, beaten bloody by police, and jailed for four years.
Authoritarian Vietnam does not allow the millions of workers in its export-orientated factories, which are driving impressive economic growth, to form independent trade unions. But this should change with the coming into force of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a deal that has been touted as a foundation for “21st-century trade” by US President Barack Obama.
The TPP seeks to liberalise commerce in some 40 per cent of the global economy, and if ratified would oblige signatories – be they the US, Japan, Canada or Vietnam – to allow independent trade unions. But activists like Hanh say the one-party state is a long way from concretely committing to that kind of change.
“Vietnam still wants to maintain its monopoly on trade unions,” said Hanh, who was released from prison in 2014 but lives under constant police surveillance.
Vietnam still wants to maintain its monopoly on trade unions
Currently, all unions are part of the Vietnam Confederation of Labour, which is older than the ruling communist party. Such official unions are “established to control workers, not to represent them,” activist Hoang Dung said.