Employees act as a special resource and a determinant to the existence and development of all units and enterprises. Fully aware of the importance of its workforce, the Company 74 under the Corps 15 has been enhancing solutions to stabilised its workforce, ensure its staff members’ rights, and improve their material and mental life to help them keep their mind on their work.

The Company 74 performs its task of combining defence consolidation with socio-economic development in a large area, particularly in the remote, isolated, border communes (Gia Lai province) mainly inhabited by ethnic minority groups. In addition to its military-defence work, the Company steps up production and business in various fields and sectors, such as rubber and coffee plantation and processing, electricity generation, petroleum business, animal husbandry, and synthetic fertiliser manufacturing. Its staff members are mainly ethnic minority people on the spot. A vast majority of them are working under seasonal contracts or as piece labourers (over 70%).

Since 2013, there has been a decrease in the price of  rubber latex, even below production costs, thus seriously negatively impacting on salary and income of the Company’s personnel. Moreover, workers have to regularly work outdoors seasonally in the harsh weather conditions. Therefore, a section of workers, especially the skilled ones have quitted their job, come back to their hometown, or sought for other employments. The rest of the workforce are mainly ethnic minority people (accounting for more than 70%). Most of the ethnic minority workers have poor educational background and workmanship together with a low level of productivity. Besides, they don’t want to pay compulsory social insurance; they just want to work under “household” contracts with the Company, which causes the business a lot of difficulties in managing their workmanship and techniques. More seriously, they are familiar with a “free” lifestyle without accrual; they still follow depraved customs (long-lasting funerals, worship and festivals). Furthermore, in recent years, many enterprises in Southern industrial zones have implemented preferential treatment policies on overtime pay or accommodation to attract human resources from localities. As a result, a number of the Company’s workers and locals have left their hometown for those businesses, leading to an intense competition for workforce right in the area. That has profoundly impacted on the quantity and quality of the Company’s workforce, business and production. Therefore, quickly stabilising its workforce becomes a matter of urgency and importance to the Company.

To that end, the Company 74’s Party Committee and Board of Directors have been drastically, synchronously taking several fundamental measures as follows.

First, enhance the work of propagation and education to encourage workers to keep their mind on their work. Being acutely aware of the importance and significant contributions of its workforce, the Company has grasped and effectively executed the guidelines on “developing rubber trees in the Central Highlands,” while focusing on educating workers on the knowledge and great benefits of rubber trees for locals’ life. At the same time, it has deployed working groups to villages and hamlets to render the ethnic minority people fully aware that it is the place where they grew up with their families, and that rubber and coffee gardens and farms would be their best, durable means of livelihood. Due attention has been paid to analysing the benefits of economic development on the spot so that locals would give up on the idea of leaving their hometown and encourage their relatives to come back to families, localities and the Company.

Exploiting rubber latex at a contest held by the Company

Additionally, the Company has proactively cooperated with local party committees, authorities, and unions and promoted the role of village patriarchs, heads of houses, persons with great prestige within villages and hamlets as well as cadres of production teams in disseminating history, fine customs, and cultural values of the Central Highlands ethnic minority groups, “good people, good deed” examples, national unity spirit, and the close-knit bond between the Military and the people. It has actively assisted the ethnic minority people in preserving and promoting their cultural identity, folklore, spirituality, and communal culture, such as Gong orchestra, Rong house, local language, and grave house. It has encouraged the ethnic minority people to follow the civilised lifestyle in their weddings, funerals, and festivals and celebrate the country’s Tet and national holidays so that they would access and weave themselves into the common national culture. It has also collaborated with religious dignitaries in encouraging the ethnic minority people to take part in production and remain vigilance against the hostile forces’ “peaceful evolution” strategy and plots of taking advantage of the issues on ethnicity, democracy, human rights, and land conflict to sabotage our Party and State and undermine our national great unity block. Doing so has helped the ethnic minority people to gradually remove depraved customs and maintain a close-knit bond with the Company and their villages and hamlets.

Second, step by step increase workers’ salary and income. This is a fundamental factor and the most important incentive for workers. Thus, the Company’s Party Committee and Board of Directors have unceasingly completed the salary policy and factors to better its staff members’ income. Great value has been attached to stabilising production, increasing productivity, and paying workers’ salary and wage punctually. In the past, ethnic minority workers had only undertaken 1 section of rubber trees per person (equivalent to 400 rubber trees). They had worked in only 1 day and had 2 days off; therefore, their per capita income had been low. Up to now, most of the workers have undertaken 2 or even 3 sections of rubber trees per person. With the price of 11,700 VND for 1 kilogram of rubber latex (the highest in the area), workers’ per capita income has been over 5.2 million VND per month.

In addition to increasing labour hours, the Company has concentrated on improving its workers’ workmanship. It has frequently maintained the movement of “improving skills and emulating excellent workers,” organising training and retraining courses for its staff members to ensure that all new workers would be able to work in the garden. It has required commanders of its production teams to regular train workers with poor task performance. At the same time, it has organised visits for its staff members to the gardens of the workers of the months to learn from their experience. Doing so has helped increase the rate of skilled workers and allowed the Company to raise its productivity and product quality as well as its staff members’ income.

Third, due regard has been paid to ensuring workers’ employment and material and mental life. Advocating the motto of “all for workers” and putting the benefits of workers above all, the Company has been flexible in work arrangement in each season to reduce work pressure of its staff members. Consideration has been given to building a harmonious relationship between business and workers and minimising workers’ idleness. The Company has given priority to recruiting locals and set the goal of employing over 200 people for every year. At the same time, great value has been attached to developing ethnic minority cadres and party members as the basis for building a comprehensively strong Company and safe, prosperous areas. Moreover, the Company has enhanced its mass mobilisation work and maintained a close-knit bond between the Company and districts and communes as well as between its production teams and villages, while cementing a sense of unity between its staff members to form a fine cultural tradition within itself. Importance has been attached to bringing into play the effectiveness of the relationship between Kinh and ethnic minority households to give instructions on techniques of rubber latex exploitation, new production method, and crop/animal husbandry, boost production, and make contributions to eradicating hunger, reducing poverty, improving the material and mental life of ethnic minority households and citizens in the area. Additionally, the Company has maintained 14 schools and it will develop more schools in the upcoming years to take care of its workers’ children and enable its staff members to keep their mind on their work. It has also given presents to its workers and their families in difficulty on national holidays, while providing them with allowances in the between-crop period. It has frequently organised free medical examination and treatment as well as cultural and sports programmes for its staff members to ensure their health and mental life. However, in order to further stabilise the Company’s workforce as the basis for its task performance, the Company’s Party Committee and Board of Directors have asked higher echelons to invest in constructing and repairing headquarters, kindergartens, tenements, and traffic system in the area. The Company has also recommended relevant ministries and sectors to step up infrastructural development in the its area and provide preferential loans for the Company’s production development so that it could stabilise its staff members’ daily life.

Well implementing those above-mentioned solutions will give an incentive to the Company 74 to fulfil the goal and task of production and defence consolidation, deserve the title of “Labour Hero in the renewal period” and make contributions to building a firm “posture of people’s hearts and minds” and cementing the ethnic minority people’s faith in the Party, the State, and the Military for the sake of national construction and protection in the strategic area of Central Highlands.

Lt. Col. NGUYEN HONG LAM, Director of the Company 74