Factory A32 (hereafter the Factory) under the Air and Air Defence Force Service, founded on June 18, 1966 (formerly the jet fighter repair unit under the Workshop A33), is tasked with repairing, restoring, and increasing the longevity of jet fighters MiG-17, UMiG-15, L-29, MiG-21, Su-22. In recent years, in order to meet the requirements of the Service’s modernization, the Factory has undertaken major repairs of Su-22M4/UM3K, Su-27SK/UBK aircraft, partial repair of Su-30MK2; production of aviation technical supplies and spare parts; inspection and repair of measuring equipment, air defence equipment, specialised motor vehicles and machines in the Central Region; repair and production of materials for the Navy’s ships and submarines; and other economic and national defence tasks.

In the process, 100% of the Factory’s cadres, workers and labourers are trade unionists. Thus, promoting the role of trade unionists and trade union has always attracted the Factory’s Party Committee and Directorate’s attention. The Factory’s Trade Union has always well performed their functions and tasks of protecting trade unionists and labourers’ legitimate rights and interests, participating in the management of the Factory, and building trade union and educating trade unionists. The Factory’s Trade Union has always actively counselled and proposed appropriate guidelines and measures to the Party Committee and Board of Directors, contributing to improving the material and spiritual life of cadres, trade unionists, and labourers. The regimes and policies relevant to labourers have been implemented properly and adequately in conformity with the law. Moreover, the Factory’s Trade Union has taken part in organising and supervising environment improvement, labour safety and hygiene, fire and explosion prevention and fighting, thereby getting the working conditions better for labourers.

In parallel with that, it has actively strengthened and heightened the quality of the movements of “good and creative labour”, promoting initiatives and technical innovation, attracting the participation of a large number of cadres, trade unionists and labourers in order that each trade union group would manage to run at least 1 project of products of economic and national defence value on a yearly basis. Since 2014, the Factory has carried out 210 projects, initiatives and technical innovations, including 23 projects and 4 initiatives at the Service level, 28 products winning prizes at the Contest “Creative products and projects” organized by the Service’s Trade Union Board, 19 products awarded at the Contest “Young Creatives” in the Army organized by the Military Youth Board and the Service. As a result, many initiatives and technical innovations with high quality have been applied to production, creating high value, overcoming technological gaps, especially in mending new products such as Su-27 and Su-30 aircraft, ensuring progress, quality and efficiency, and contributing to significantly reducing the costs of importing technology and technical equipment.

Over the past years, the Factory’s Trade Union has been rated excellently strong for three consecutive years (2016 - 2018), and awarded the Emulation Flag by the Vietnam’s General Confederation of Labour. In addition, the Factory has won the title of “Determined to Win Unit” and many other noble ones. These achievements are attributed to the leadership and attention of the Factory’s Party Committee and Director Board via many synchronous, practical and effective solutions as follows.

First and foremost, regularly performing well the work of education to raise the awareness and responsibility of cadres, trade unionists and labourers towards the importance of trade union in their task execution. The Factory’s Political Office and Trade Union have propagated and widely disseminated the Party’s directives and resolutions, higher echelons’ regulations and instructions on the position, role and function of trade union, working class movements and trade unions’ activities in the Army. In terms of education, due regard has been paid to clarifying the close relationship between building strong trade unions and making other organizations strong and units comprehensively strong and the organic relationship between trade unions and party committees, commanders, and political agencies. This would create a consensus in awareness and responsibility for leading and directing trade union activities in line with the mechanism in which party committees take charge of the leadership, political agency undertakes the guidance and direction, and trade union engages in the performance with a view to serving the Factory’s political task and improving material and spiritual life for cadres, trade unionists and labourers.

Second, bringing into play the leadership and direction of the Factory’s Party Committee, Board of Directors, and political agency over the working class movement and trade union activities. The Factory has developed and completed regulations on the relationship between the trade union with the Director; regulations on the work of the Trade Union’s Executive Board; regulations on the trade union and trade unionist quality analysis and commendation; regulations on the distribution of salary, bonus, and employment in accordance with the task requirements of the unit and characteristics of trade union operation. This is considered as an important legal basis to promote responsibility and leadership of the Factory’s Trade Union. In the process, the Factory’s Party Committee and Board of Directors have constantly created favourable conditions for the trade union to operate properly in accord with the task demands and the Determined to Win emulation movement of each office, unit, and other major campaigns. At the same time, significance has been attached to regularly checking the fulfilment of action plans and programs; periodically working with the Trade Union Executive Board; holding dialogues with labourers to exercise opportune leadership; well exercising the Democratic Regulation in the Factory; raising the negotiation quality and effectiveness; signing the collective labour agreement; and establishing a harmonious and stable labour relationship for the development of the Factory. Besides, there are representatives of the Trade Union’s Executive Board in all Factory’s organizations and councils, ensuring democracy, publicity, and transparency. Therefore, the role and responsibility of trade union have been increasingly bolstered. The Factory’s political agency has always thoroughly grasped higher echelons’ directions, firmly seized the unit’s situation, given directions via specific and proper plans. On that basis, the trade union would be able to effectively run in line with the higher echelons’ leadership and its tasks.

Third, regularly consolidating and making the Factory’s Trade Union’s Executive Board and trade union groups strong both quantitatively and qualitatively with suitable assignments and proper attention devoted to the work of developing human resources and training, fostering, arranging, and using trade union cadres. The contingent of trade union cadres, especially the Factory’s Trade Union’s Executive Board is selected from those acquiring high professional and technical qualifications, skills, capability, and prestige with the enthusiasm for the trade union and working class movements.

However, the majority of trade union cadres work as a holder of more than one position concurrently without basic training on trade union work. So they have faced difficulties in organising trade union activities and workers’ movements. Therefore, the Factory has given consideration to opening training courses on trade union work for the trade union group deputy leaders and superiors; creating conditions for them to attend training courses organized by higher echelons in order to enhance their qualifications and skills as well as make them know how to understand aspirations and legitimate needs of labourers; raising the capacity for representing, protecting workers’ rights and interests, and caring for workers. Additionally, in order to prepare long-term human resources, the Factory has selected and dispatched trade union cadres with good qualifications, competence, sense of discipline, responsibility, and enthusiasm to get training at the Trade Union University; attracted prestigious individuals among workers to participate in trade union activities; planned and trained workers to become managerial and key personnel in the workers’ movements. Thanks to that, the quality of the Factory’s trade union cadres has been raised, and their capacity, prestige, and responsibility have been brought into full play.

Fourth, actively renovating the content and forms of trade union work and patriotic emulation movement, attracting the participation of a large number of cadres, trade unionists and labourers, lifting the spirit of creative and ebullient labour within the Factory. The trade union’s emulation movements originate from the Factory’s political mission and meet the legitimate interests of workers and labourers as well. Thereby, they not only mobilize the brain power of cadres, trade unionists, and labourers but also derive from practice so as to actively help the Factory’s Party Committee and Board of Directors to perfect the regulations and policies on labour, salary, grass-roots democracy, etc. Through the movements of Patriotic Emulation and creative labour, the Factory’s Trade Union has paid special attention to discovering, fostering and promoting “golden hands” in the fields of production and business; opportunely selecting and introducing the excellent trade unionists to the Party Committee to be considered and admitted to the Party.

In order to promote the role as a “bridge” of the trade union in attaching the interests of labourers to the development of the Factory, the trade union has always firmly grasped labourers’ legitimate and practical needs as well as difficulties and problems to opportunely propose solutions to the Party Committee and Board of Directors. This has resulted in not only demonstrating solidarity and mutual support but also creating a synergy to better care for workers’ life. In turn, the trade union has mobilized labourers’ intellectuals and resources to stand by the Factory with the aim of overcoming difficulties in its production and business.

To bring into play the role of trade union in the performance of their duties, the Factory’s Party Committee and Directorate have demanded that all trade union activities must be turned towards the grass-roots units, come from grass-roots units and take place at grass-roots units. In other words, labourers must be considered as the subject of all activities. The action plans and programs of the trade union must be based on the central role of the trade unionists and labourers. The trade union must be able to make cadres, trade unionists and labourers see the benefits after joining the trade union and consider the building of strong trade union as their own responsibility. It should regularly advise the Party Committee and Board of Directors on trade union work, firmly grasp the situation of trade unionists and labourers, opportunely report, and propose feasible policies and solutions. Along with that, importance should be paid to well performing the education work and encouraging trade unionists and labourers to participate in the operation effectively as the core force in the development of the Factory.

Under the spirit of “Innovation, democracy, solidarity and responsibility” for the sake of the Factory’s sustainable development, trade unionists and labourers’ legitimate rights and interests, the Factory’s Trade Union has always promoted the honourable tradition of united and creative “worker soldiers” in the task accomplishment, contributing to making the Factory’s Party Committee pure and strong and the Factory comprehensively strong.

Sr. Col. Hoang Van Khuong, Political Commissar of the Factory