Research on Social Criticism of Trade Union Organizations in Vietnam

Abstract

Social criticism is an issue that demonstrates the democratic nature of state governance. Policies issued with the participation of many subjects will become effective state management tools, expressing both the will of the state and the aspirations of the people. Among the many subjects participating in social criticism, trade unions are a common subject, with the nature of representative organizations of workers and established in countries. In Vietnam, trade unions are defined as socio-political organizations, established and operating in parallel with central and local government levels; at the same time, trade unions are established and operate in each agency and organization in the political system in Vietnam. This study addresses the issue of social criticism of trade unions through the content of participating in policy criticism at the local level in direct and indirect forms; contributing to ensuring the quality of policies issued by localities. Based on the theoretical framework developed, the author surveyed the opinions of 200 leaders of grassroots trade union organizations in localities of 3 provinces representing 3 regions of Vietnam, including: Hung Yen Province (North), Quang Ngai Province (Central), Tay Ninh Province (South). The research and survey results show that the role of trade union organizations in policy criticism contributes to ensuring the quality of policies issued by localities; participation in policy criticism is mainly in an indirect form and needs to be strengthened more than direct participation in criticism. From the research conclusion, the author discusses appropriate solutions to promote the policy criticism role of trade union organizations in Vietnam.