Labour matters in the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Area (EVFTA)

The International Labor Organization (ILO) is an international organization founded in 1919, after World War I and became the first specialized agency of the United Nations in 1946. The main purpose of the ILO is Promoting the rights of the employee in the workplace, promoting employment opportunities, enhancing social protection, and enhancing dialogue with people about work-related issues. Until now, the organization has 186 members worldwide and contributes to addressing labor-related issues around the world.

Vietnam has joined the ILO since 1992 and has its office located in Hanoi in 2003. The purpose of the ILO Vietnam is to promote workplace rights, promote sustainable working opportunities, social protection, and promote dialogue on issues related to employment.

The ILO Basic Conventions regulate the rights of the labor market in Vietnam to decide and support the labor market management needed by trade liberalization. Recently, the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Area (EVFTA) has been discussed, EU member states and Vietnam are all members of the ILO, therefore it may be argued that EVFTA has advocated compliance with the ILO approved and implemented standards. In addition, EVFTA encourages the expansion and improvement of initiatives to promote the company’s labor standards or corporate social responsibility. In the future, EVFTA and the ILO will work around issues such as modern slavery and child labor, risk management and increased transparency in labor relations.

The above fields are important fields for cooperation, considering the positive aspects of labor management, the impact of poor labor management on trade opportunities, therefore emphasize the role of labor management for the sustainability of the trade.

In Vietnam, there are many policies on the protection of workers’ rights and the protection of child labor, but the settlement of policies related to labor management, workplace communication has becoming improved. Until now, Vietnam has signed several Free Trade Agreements (FTA), some of which have provisions on labor issues, which require Vietnam to have the labor provisions which consist of the free trade. Vietnam’s current labor policies are gradually improving in order to be in line with the integration trend of the world and to preserve the best integration environment for domestic and foreign investors, therefore it brings the high efficiency in the economic development of the country.

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