VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES e & f TRAN VAN HUNG STRIKES IN FOREIGN INVESTMENT ENTERPRSIES IN THE SOUTHERN KEY ECONOMIC ZONE SUMMARY OF ECONOMIC DOCTORAL THESIS Ha Noi - 2019 The thesis has completed: GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES The scientific instructors: Associate Professor, PhD Nguyen Van Ngai Associate Professor, PhD Nguyen Huu Dung Reviewer 1: Professor, PhD Ngo Thang Loi Reviewer 2: Associate Professor, PhD Le Thanh Ha Reviewer 3: Associate Professor, PhD Dang Thi Phuong Hoa The dissertation will be approved by the doctoral thesis dissertation Council at the Graduate Academy of Social Sciences DD/MM/YY: …… ………… The dissertation will be storaged at Information and Library Center, Graduate Academy of Social Sciences National library Ha noi - 2019 VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES e & f TRAN VAN HUNG STRIKES IN FOREIGN INVESTMENT ENTERPRISES IN THE SOUTHERN KEY ECONOMIC ZONE Major Code : Economic Management :9340410 SUMMARY OF ECONOMIC DOCTORAL THESIS The scientific instructors: Associate Professor, PhD NGUYEN VAN NGAI Associate Professor, PhD NGUYEN HUU DUNG Ha Noi - 2019 INTRODUCTION The necessity of the research After 30 years of reform, Vietnam was changed from the central planning economy into market economy together with the profound economic integration, this has facilitated the formation of numerous enterprises especially foreign direct invested enterprises (FDIs) FDI has made great contributions into the achievement of the Vietnamese economic reform as well as created jobs and improved employees’ living conditions the Vietnam’s position in the international arena On the other hand, FDI capital has created the diversity in the economic structure as well as the complexity in industrial relations because they came from different countries Each country has its own culture and management which results in increasingly growing industrial disputes and strikes, According to the Ministry of Labor and War Invalids and Social Welfare from 1995 to late 2017, there were more than 6400 strikes happened in more than 40 provinces nationwide Most of strikes happening in FDIs in the Southern key economic zone (SKEZ), accounting for 74% of all strikes This has affected the stability of the socio-economic situation and investment environment in Vietnam greatly That examining characteristics, causes and driving and harmful factors of strikes is the most concerned mission which helps to design and implement measures that make contributions into building up harmonious industrial relations, limimiting conflicts, mitigating disputes and prevent strikes Therefore, I has chosen the topic “Strikes in FDIs in the Southern key economic zone” as a topic for my Ph.D dissertation – Major in Economic Management Objectives and content of the thesis The overall objectives of this thesis is to set up a framework and model to analyze and study the factors affecting strikes in FDIs and use them to study and identify factors influencing strikes in FDIs in the SKEZ The specific objectives include the following: - Summarize theories and empirical evidence on strikes in Vietnam and around the world - Have an understanding of the actual situation of strikes and industrial relations in FDIs in Vietnam and in the SKEZ - Set up theoretical framework and model to analyze factors influencing strikes in FDIs in Vietnam - Use theoretical model to evaluate factors affecting strikes in FDIs in the SKEZ - Identify characteristics of workers who usually take part in strikes in FDIs - Suggest solutions that help subjects participating in industrial relations in FDIs improve their functions and activities to prevent and mitigate strikes Research scope and subject - The subject of the research is strikes in FDIs in the SKEZ The thesis focuses on studying and identifying factors influencing strikes in FDIs in the SKEZ - Scope of the research: FDIs in the SKEZ - Timing: the period from 2007 to late 2017 - Respondents/subjects of the survey and research: employees working in FDIs in the SKEZ; related subjects such as state labour management bodies; Foreign-invested capital attraction and management bodies; Epzone and industrial management boards; workers’ residence management, VCCI management, provincial leaders of Vietnam General Confederation of Labour; Labor Management Office in epzones and industrial parks; ILO experts, Management of FDIs; leading experts and scientists, etc., researcher as professionals Research methodology The thesis has been conducted based on the combination of qualitative and quanlitative methods to answer the research questions Qualitative method has been used to analyze, evaluate and consolidate factors influencing strikes from socio-economic environment, government and laws and at the same time it has been used to establish framework and measurements for the research concepts while quantitative method has been used to check these measurements which are used in practice to come to conclusions on factors affecting strikes New contributions: - Set up a framework to analyze factors influencing strikes and industrial relations in Vietnam - Set up qualitative model to analyze factors influencing strikes from four groups of factors: trade union, employees, employers and systems of internal regulations in businesses - Build up the model to inspect characteristics of employees affecting the probability of strikes in FDIs - Find out factors and the influence of each factor on the intention to go on strike of employees in FDIs in the SKEZ - Find out personal characteristics of employees that affects the probability of strikes in FDIs in the SKEZ - Test, compare and evaluate evaluations of causes of strikes drawn from stasticstics perspective of State authorities and those of actual surveys of experts and employees Practical and theoretical contributions: From theoretical perspective: - Review, consolidate and evaluate researches into the actual situations of industrial relations as price will fly in in Vietnam to find the gaps for the research as well as to serve as the bases for the for further researches - Present, analyze, consolidate, compare industrial-relation-related theories applicable worldwide and in Vietnam to serve as bases for researches and applications in Vietnam - Set up a framework to analyze strikes and industrial relations in Vietnam, which combine analyses of microeconomic and macroeconomics elements; qualitative and quantitative analyses - Set up a framework using quantitative method to analyze factors influencing strikes including two-party and three-party industrial relations from four groups of factors: trade union, employees, employers and internal regulations system in businesses - Establish quantitative analysis model to find out characteristics of employees affecting probability of strikes in FDIs - Find out factors and the extent to which each factor affects the intention to go on strike of employees in FDIs - Find out personal characteristics of employees affecting the probability of strikes in FDIs - Test, compare and evaluate evaluations of causes of strikes drawn from statistics perspective of State authorities and those of actual surveys of experts and employees From practical perspective: - Evaluate the actual situation and characteristics of strikes of FDIs in the SKEZ - Analyze and evaluate main causes of strikes in FDIs in SKEZ - Evaluate characteristics of employees participating in strikes and probability of strikes in businesses - Suggest four groups of solutions to the Government, trade union, employers and employees based on the analyses of causes, actual situation, new contexts on the basis of suggesting viewpoints, practical orientation that can help to prevent strikes and build up harmonious healthy industrial relations Content of the research: The research includes an introduction, a conclusion and four chapters: Introduction Chapter 1: Basic issues and overview of strike-related researches Chapter 2: Literature review and methodology Chapter 3: Factors influencing strikes in FDIs in the SKEZ Chapter 4: Viewpoints, orientation and solutions Conclusions and suggestions for further researchers CHAPTER 1: BASIC ISSUES AND OVERVIEW OF STRIKE-RELATED RESEARCHES Over the past years, the Labor Code was continuously amended and supplemented in 2002, 2006, 2007, and 2012 with the purpose of preventing and limiting consequences of strikes as well as promote and create basic foundation for rights and obligations of parties participating in industrial relations to step-by-step put these relations into legal framework However, building and improving industrial relations are facing great difficulties and challenges In this chapter, the thesis introduces and systemize concepts and definitions about labor, strikes as well as characteristics and interactions of actors in industrial relations; review strike-related and industrial-relation-related researchers of Vietnamese and international scholars to use as bases for researches and applications in controlling and managing labor market in the new era; finally it summarizes industrial relation management models and lessons learnt from prevention and limiting strikes in some countries Based on analyses and consolidation of some researches regarding strikes and industrial relations, the author has found out gaps to research 1.1 Terminologies and characteristics of strikes and related issues 1.1.1 Terminologies: Definition: strike is basic human right of employeesacknowledgeda long time ago in the legal documents of the United Nation, International labor organizationand in Vietnam and other countries in the world Regulating the right to go on strike in the labor code is one of the progresses the labor code; this embodies Constitution making it suitable into the market economy and guarantees the employees to have more conditionsto protect their own rights and benefits According to Article 209 of Labor Code (2012): “(1) A strike is a temporary, voluntary and organized stoppage of work by the worker’s collective in order to achieve the demands in the process of the labour dispute resolution (2) The strike shall only be carried out in regard to interest-based collective labour disputes and after the statutory period as stipulated in Clause of Article 206 of this Code expires.” Labor Code 2012 also defines some terminologies: Employee; Employer; Workers’ collective; The representative organization of the worker’s collective at grassroots level ở; The “representative organization of employers”; Labor dispute The collective labour dispute on right means “a dispute between a worker’s collective and the employer arising out of different interpretation and implementation of provisions of labour laws, collective bargaining agreements, internal working regulations, and other lawful regulations and agreements” A collective labour dispute on interest means “a dispute arising out of the request of the worker collective on the establishment of new working conditions, as compared to the provisions of labour laws, collective bargaining agreements, or internal working regulations, or other lawful regulations and agreements, in the negotiation process between the worker’s collective and the employer” 1.1.2 Characteristics of labour disputes and strikes Characteristics of labour disputes: Labour dispute is understood as conflict that arises to a high level where there are different actions happening One party will take unilateral action while the other will carry out actions to prevent the former’ ones Characteristics of strikes: it is just a temporary stoppage of work in a certain period of time without being long-lasting or permanent; a strike cannot be a personal action while it is an organized action of a collective; According to the Labour Code, a strike is only carried out in the scope of a worker’s collective in regard to interest-based collective labour disputes for financial purpose, strikes must not be used for political purposes since this will be considered a disguise of strikes or taking advantage of strikes to serve non-economic objectives; From economic perspective, the purpose of strikes is to achieve demands on rights and benefits for a worker’s collective; from social perspective, the collective nature of strikes is a phenomenon that contributes to the instability of social order and can lead to disorder and panic of people and community; from political perspective: strikes can be a phenomenon that causes political unrest in a country 1.1.3 Actors in industrial relations The Government, employer and his representative, employee and Trade union as his representative 1.1.4 Interactions in industrial relations Figure 1-1: actors in social dialogue at a business with trade union; Figure 1-2: Business without trade union; Figure 1-3: Industrial relations and labour criteria Macro Environment Internal regulation Trade Union Employee 2.4 Methodology 2.4.1 Design of the research Figure 2-2:Concept framework suggested by the author Employer STRIKE Government and Law National level Macro environment Employer Tripartite Consultation System - IR from Economic reform - Economic and social Trade Union environment - Labor market Employee Trade Union Government - SKEZ industrial strategy STRIKE Employer Two party in IR National level Macro environment Employee Employer Business Level Tripartite System by the Consultation author - IR from EconomicSource: reform Concept framework suggested 2.4.2- Economic Analysis and framework: social environment Trade Union Government From the concept framework, the author suggested a framework for analyzing STRIKE groups - Labor market of factors influencing strikes in FDIs - SKEZ industrial strategy Employer Figure 2-3: framework for analyzing factors influencing strikes in FDIs Macro Environment Internal regulation Two party in IR Employer STRIKE Government and Law Employee Business Level Trade Union Employee Source: Analysis framework suggested by the author Design of framework for analyzing factors influencing strikes in FDIs 12 Figure 2-4: Quanlitative model for analyzing factors influencing strikes - Vietnam socio-economic context in transitional period - Labour law and policies - Strategy for industrializing and modernizing the country and the SKEZ STRIKE Figure 2-5 Quantitative model for analyzing factors influencing strikes Age Salary Bonus and income increase Gender Marital status Welfare benefit Residence Mid – shift meal Internal regulations Home town Insurance Year of work Work itself Human resource policies Contract/Collective labor agreement Working conditions STRIKE 12 Competence and leadership of leaders Employer Cultural and behavior of leaders Legal complience Employee Legal understanding Enticement/ drawn Competence of trade union leaders The power of trade union Independence of trade union Trade uinon Internal communication Employer relationship Employee relationship 10 Binary logistic regression model for analyzing characteristics of employees participating in strikes No Variable Table 2-6: Hypotheses for Binary logistic regression Hypothesis symbol (+/-) Age Young people usually go on strike (-) Education less educated people usually go on strike (-) Hometown Immigrant employees usually go on strike (+) Marital Unmarried employees tend to go on strike than the married (-) status ones Residence non-houseowners usually go on strike (-) Contract Employees without employment contracts or short-term (-) contracts employees usually go on strike Income Low-income employees usually go on strike (-) Seniority Senior employees rarely go on strike (-) Conclusion of chapter 2: Chapter has generalized the whole literature review and research method of the thesis First of all, it gathered and evaluated the theories relating to industrial relations and strikes Then, it analyzed the practical building of industrial relations and solutions to deal with strikes in four countries, namely, China, Korea, Japan and the Federal Republic of Germany, came up with valuable lessons learnt for Vietnam Finally, it generalized the research process and method for the thesis With the research method and the way of processing and analyzing data in accordance with the international standards, the thesis will study and analyze factors influencing strikes in FDIs at THE SKEZ fully, scientifically with high reliability CHAPTER 3: FACTORS INFLUENCING STRIKES IN FDIs IN THE SKEZ In recent years, strikes have taken place increasingly in terms of quantity, size and complexity, affecting business results of enterprises, upsetting life of employees and causing many other social issues Since 1995, when the Labor Code came into effective, there have been more than 6,400 so far, among them those of FDIs accounted for more than 74% Strikes in FDIs happened mainly in the SKEZ, accounting for nearly 70% nationwide To get a good understanding of the practical strikes in FDIs in economic region in the South as well as to identify factors influencing strikes is the objective of this chapter 3.1 The socio-economic situation of the SKEZ 3.1.1 The socio-economic situation In 30 years of reform - “Doi moi”, the Region has attracted 14,577 FDI projects, with a total registered capital of US$149,372million, accounting for 56.2% of that of the total projects and 45.1% of the total registered capital of the whole country In the top of localities that attract foreign invested capital in the country, four located in Region, namely, Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Ba Ria-Vung Tau provinces During the 11 reform process, the results of the socio-economic development the Region are the key factors to attract FDI for it as well as have made great contributions to it 3.1.2 Contributions and limitations of FDIs in the SKEZ Figure 3-1: Criteria reflecting contributions of FDIs in SKEZ FDI in SKEZ/Whole FDI (%) 100 58 58 49 49 44 56 Number of business Number of employees Capital Net Revenue EBIT Tax and other obligations Limitations: The prominent downsides of FDIs are using outdated technology – price transfer - tax evasion; devastating and polluting the environment; spreading of their positive affect to local enterprises is still weak; the number of jobs created is not equivalent to the number of FDIs, employees’ living conditions have not been high, and labour disputes and strikes tend to increase 3.1.3 General achievements in socio-economic development of the Region Figure 3-2: Important socio-economic indexes of the SKEZ compared to those of the whole country 2016-2017(%) 3.2 … 40 Ta x 45 EB T 42 l Re ve nu e 32 Ca pi ta be r of … 44 Nu m of th e… ue Va l l Im ita 50 40 -E xp or t of … 45 -C ap … be r ge or ke r w er a tio n W or k Ar e Po pu la a … in … Ta x 17.7 56 Nu m 9.2 21 60 40 GD P 41 50 FD I 100 Practical situation of actors in industrial relations in the Region State representative: MOLISA has 63 departments of Labor, Invalids and Social Welfare (DOLISA) at provincial and city levels DOLISA offices support and supervise 697 district departments Until the end of 2015, there were only 500 labor inspectors in Vietnam Employers and representatives: As of 2017, the country has had 11,940 FDIs, equivalent to 3% of the total number of businesses in the country, in which the SKEZ has 6,964 FDIs equivalent to 58% of the total number of FDIs nationwide According to the current law, Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and Vietnam Cooperative Alliance (VCA) are two groups of representative of employers Employees and representatives: As of the end of 2017, there were about 4.5 million workers working in the FDI sector with rather high average income of more than VND 9million/person/month According to Statistical Yearbook 2017, the number of workers working in FDIs in the Region is 2.61 million, accounting for 58% of the number of workers in FDIs nationwide Employees are mainly immigrants and young people from all over the country Trade Union is representing legitimate rights and interests of employees The role of Trade Union is continuously developing and expanding over the period The structure of the General Labor Federation is quite large with branches in all 63 provinces and cities and districts 12 3.3 Practice of strikes in FDIs in the SKEZ 3.3.1 Quantity of strikes Figure 3-3: Strikes in the whole country from 1995 to 2017 5000 Number of strike 2561 2031 968 525 317 1995-1999 2000-2004 2004-2009 2009-2014 2015-2017 Figure 3-4: Rates of strikes according to economic sectors (%) 150 State owner 100 50 14 40 29 34 47 Private 84 76 79 73 74 69 74 79 81 72 68 74 74 7476 63 54 61 66 48 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 201… 30 66 59 FDI 3.3.2 Localities where strikes took place Hình 3-5: Strikes in provinces and cities 1995-2017(%) 150 100 50 23 14 20 10 29 47 49 12 14 20 54 11 10 71 28 16 11 21 18 21 20 14 19 23 35 27 42 44 40 35 34 18 27 39 49 49 12 34 22 36 24 28 36 36 39 18 19 23 16 16 20 23 32 21 30 30 22 33 20 16 27 52 19 21 34 32 26 13 22 13 28 32 50 49 21 23 21 11 19 62 18 13 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 HCMC Dong Nai Binh Duong Other 3.3.3 Some characteristics of strikes in FDIs in the SKEZ Figure 3-6: Rate of strikes in FDIs by country: 1995 – 2016 a) 1995 – 2010 32% 25% 31% Taiwan b) 2010 - 6/2016 5% 8% 38% Korea 31% Other Korea 13 31% Taiwan China Japan Other Figure 3-7: Rate of strikes in business by country: 2017-2018 – Figure 3-8: Rate of strikes by industry Japan 5% PCI2017 China 10% 94 Figure 3-7 Other 17% Figure 3-8 Other, 7% Electric, 9% Korea 44% Garment, 47% Wood prossing, 14% CHỈ SÔ NĂNG LỰC CẠNH TRANH CẤP TỈNH Leather shoes, 23% Taiwan 24% G H T H T N N T Korea Taiwan China Japan Garment Electric Other Leather shoes Other Wood prossing C Table 3-1: Criterial of industrial relations (2014 vs.2017) Bảng 2.7 – Các tiêu quan hệ lao động (2014 so với 2017) Tỷ lệ DN xảy Labour Column đình cơng/ mn.global-labour-university.org/ Số ngày bị gián đoạn sản xuất ngừng làm việc tập thể mber 234, May 2016 Thiệt hại kinh tế tổng doanh thu đình cơng Khiếu nại lao động tham gia đình cơng coi đáng u cầu người lao động giải prospects for pattern bargaining in Vietnam Chi Do Quynh right to ce then cial un) While us’ (Chi were ort of the es, and erprises a longiinces of Duong, nds that dination stics of ers, and her cre- attempt A smallttempts d as folployers, n states a deadstrike if emands ot only the de workers s in the mon culplace T Figure 3-9: Rate of strikes by month of a year 28.3% of all strikes Figure Average number of days of strikes over the past period Figure 1:3-10: Percentage of strikes by month, 2010-2014 Hình 3-10 Hình 3-9 2.5.3 Tóm tắt Chất lượng lao động Quan hệ lao động C T N N N PC C Source: Calculated by the author from VGCL strike statistics, 2016 Figure 3-11: Rate of strikes by province/city 1995-2017; Figure 3-12: Rate of strikes Figure 2: Classification of strikes by duration, 2010-2011 by economic sector 32% 23% HCMC Dong Nai 27% Figure 3-11 Figure 3-12 18% Binh Duong 3% 23% 74% Other State owner FDI Private 3.3.4 Damages and benefits of strikes: Strikes happen in waves during these two seasons A strike Strikes leavestarts economic consequences and damages to businesses, and also affect the wave usually at companies with strong informal worker organisation These leading strikes often last for benefits of collectives and individuals at a certain level Strikes are an indispensable and more than one day (Figure 2) According to the ILO, 92% of all strikes ended withmodern employers satisfying workers’ deobjective issue of the market economy, an effective tool to protect the rights of mands (ILO 2011) Victory for the leading strikes tends to employees, which inherently weak in comparison change the wageis levels of the whole region and encour- with those of employers Strikes also tatistics spontaneous copy-cat strikes in other companies months have ages a positive effect, thatofisthe to create for competition and development of labor However, the influence leading motivation strikes does not ributing spread automatically The direction of a strike wave dehe time market pends on the three factors mentioned already: industrial s as the employer networks ear, Tet, 3.4 clustering, Analysis of thecoordination, influenceand ofworker economic environment on strikes ple, raisIndustrial Clusters Figure 3-13: Correlation between the quantity of strikes and inflation rate down in The first decade of Doi Moi, Vietnam’s economic reform, gh seacreated clusters of key industries, although the degreeof ofstrikes and the right one shows the The left colume represents the quantity also the agglomeration differs from industry to industry McCarty et nted for al (2005) found the greatest tendency toinflation cluster in the garrate (%) Source: ILO Hanoi, 2011 Nicolas Pons-Vignon, E-mail: Nicolas.Pons-Vignon@wits.ac.za Mbuso Nkosi, E-mail: Mbuso.Nkosi@global-labour-university.org 14 1500 30.0 Number of strike Inflation (%) 1000 23.1 978 720 7.3 5.7 500 3.2 7.3 4.1 60 59 69 62 67 70 20.0 18.7 10.0 551 8.3 8.9 539 9.1 6.6 7.8 8.3 7.1 424 390 7.4 368 4.7 351 3.8 3.2 314 3.5 3.2 286 269 218 0.9 0.0 -1.7 99 142 124 152 90 -0.4 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 -10.0 1995 The rate of strikes in Vietnam has been greatly affected by inflation and unemployment Beside the industrialization and modernization policies, the labor market has an influence on strikes 3.5 Analyzing the influence of the government and legal institution on strikes 3.5.1 From Doi Moi 1986 to the date the first labour code in 1994 3.5.2 From 1995 to the date of the first amendment of the Labour code 2002 3.5.3 From 2003 to the date of the second and the third amendments of the Labour code – 2006 & 2007 3.5.4 From 2007 to the date of the fourth amendment of the Labour code 2012; 3.5.5 From 2012 to date (early 2018) Although Vietnam has continually changed its mechanism and labor law to adapt to the labor market, during the transition process, changes of the Government and law are not enough These changes have not met those of the reality Strikes increase and industrial relations are more complicated when the labour code is amended 3.6 Analysing the influence of employer, employee, trade union and internal regulations in businesses on strikes The results of regression analysis of 936 questionnaires of employees show that the concepts, namely CD, LD, and LK are statistically significant at the significance of 5% or reliability of 95%, while other concepts are not statistically meaningful After eliminating the non-statistically-significant concepts and retest the research model, the results showed that Chi-square / df = 3.909; GFI = 0.944; TLI = 0.957; CFI = 0,965; RMSEA = 0.056, showing that the model has been more suitable (Figure 3-14) CD, LD and LK variables explain 36% variation of the intention to go on strike Figure 3-14: Regression analysis of factors influencing strikes 15 3.6.1 Findings and level of interpreting results of the research model Three groups of actors, namely trade union, employees and employers all influence strikes Table 3-2: Findings from strike influencing factors – quantitative research cd_nld3 Trade union not guide employees to sign labor contracts/ collective bargaining agreements cd_nld4 Trade union does not take care of material and spiritual life for employees cd_nsdld3 Trade union is not allowed to take part in running business activities Trade cd_nsdld1 The relationship between Trade union officers and employees union is not good cd_nsdld2 Trade union is not allowed to take part in negotiating and building collective bargaining agreement smcongdoan Trade union at the business does not have the real power and responsibilities ttcongdoan1 Trade union does not communicate and train labour law and regulations to employees smcongdoan Trade union does not represent their role and voice in protecting the rights of employees ttcongdoan3 Trade union does not play the role of intermediaries in mediation and settlement of internal conflicts ttcongdoan4 Trade union at the business does not effectively communicate feeling and expectations of its members to employers and state authorities at different levels ttcongdoan2 Trade union does not hold periodic dialogues among it, employees and employers Employ loikeo3 Being enticed and paid to join stoppages ee loikeo4 Being threatened and forced to join stoppages Employ nluclanhdao1 Professionalism of business leaders er nluclanhdao3 Negotiation and problem-solving abilities of business leaders nluclanhdao2 Human resources management skills of business leaders 3.6.2 Regression Analysis Regression equation of the model can be written as follows: 3.6.3 Multi-group structure analysis The quantitative results show that the group of employees who are houseowners or who resides in the company’s residence are influenced with CD, LD and LK variables stronger than those who rent their own houses In other words, the factor, namely, trade union, leadership and enticement have little effect on the intention to go on strike of the group of employees who rent their own houses 16 The analysis results of groups with different types of contracts shows that employees with short-term contracts are more affected by trade union and management styles but the impact of enticement is low On the contrary, long-term contract employees are more affected by enticement 3.6.4 Analysing employees’ characteristics influencing strikes The model with all variables shows that in 433 strikes and potential strikes, it has been able to forecast 173 (40%) In the case of no strikes (503), it can forecast 350 times (69.6%), in general, the model can forecast 55.9% Table to verify the significance of regression coefficients in the model shows that only education (hocvan), hometown (diaphuong), and accommodation (choo) are statistically significant with p-value < 0.05 so it is possible to reject the hypothesis H0 with the coefficient β = We can rewrite the equation as follows The results show that the effect of hocvan variable to the intention to go on strike (DC123) With an initial probability of 0.5, the effect is 0.5 (1-0.5) 0.191 = -0.023875, while the effect of diaphuong variable is 0.10875, choo is 0.041 Therefore, the higher the education level is, the lower the intention to go on strike is, employees whose hometowns are from other places tend to go on strike more than local ones, and employees who owns or rent their own houses tend to go on strike less than the employees living in the company’s dormitory or accommodation 3.6.5 Findings on the causes of labour disputes and strikes Statistic data on causes of labour disputes and strikes from employees surveys and experts’ surveys Figure 3-15: Causes of labour disputes and strikes (employees and experts) lu on gt hu on Ta g ng lu on ta ng g ca th kb ap ao kk hiem yh op ng vi ph am hd ql kh ie ul ua ql t ka nt oa ta n ng ca nh ka ie nt u oa nv es in cv h na ng nh o c m to nh ie m nq kh at kh e kn gh i b u le aa nk kc dd m s oc sd qu sk yk ro m n au g th ua nv xu h cp sa m th kd un g 83.3%83.3%80.0%76.7%83.3%80.0% 80.0%83.3%86.7%83.3%83.3% 100.0% 80.0%80.0%73.3%76.7%73.3%80.0% 66.7% 63.3%70.0% 80.0% 60.0% 40.8% 29.6% 31.8% 29.1% 26.8% 25.6% 25.6% 23.1% 27.2% 31.4% 32.6% 37.1% 36.2% 30.1% 36.3% 28.7% 29.0% 32.2% 32.5% 30.6% 40.0% 20.0% 0.0% 3.7 NLD Employee es Chuyên gia Expert Causes of strikes After analyzing the influence of groups of factors influencing strikes in FDIs in the SKEZ, the author systemized causes of strikes by group of factors as follows: 3.7.1 Causes from macroeconomic environment factors Economic issues, namely, inflation, unemployment, policies to develop the economy in terms of industrialization and modernization and those to attract foreign invested capital have influence on strikes 17 3.7.2 Causes from groups of government and law-related factors Firstly, over the past years, the competence of lawmakers as well as the quality of the laws and byub-law documents are not good and not meet and address practical needs; Secondly: Legal regulations and policies are not synchronized and overlapping; Thirdly: The competence of officers who implement labor law at the local level is too weak; Fourthly: State authorities who directly manage FDIs (Management Boards of EPZs and IPs) have not been good at getting a good understanding of practical situations to detect and timely address problems under their authority; Fifthly: Localities competing for foreign invested capital have proved to be easy for investors in terms of dealing with labor and employment violations; Sixthly: the guidance and communication of labour law to employees and employers have not met the requirements and have not been paid enough attention; Finally: The current regulations on minimum wage are still not really reasonable, minimum wage only meets 2/3 of the minimum needs of employees 3.7.3 Causes from trade union Table 3-3: Findings from quantitative analysis of trade union factors influencing strikes cd_nld3 Trade union not guide employees to sign labor contracts/ collective bargaining agreements cd_nld4 Trade union does not take care of material and spiritual life for CĐ employees cd_nsdld3 Trade union is not allowed to take part in running business activities cd_nsdld1 The relationship between Trade union officers and employees is not good cd_nsdld2 Trade union is not allowed to take part in negotiating and building collective bargaining agreement smcongdoan3 Trade union at the business does not have the real power and responsibilities ttcongdoan1 Trade union does not communicate and train labour law and regulations to employees smcongdoan4 Trade union does not represent their role and voice in protecting the rights of employees ttcongdoan3 Trade union does not play the role of intermediaries in mediation and settlement of internal conflicts ttcongdoan4 Trade union at the business does not effectively communicate feeling and expectations of its members to employers and state authorities at different levels ttcongdoan2 Trade union does not hold periodic dialogues among it, employees and employers 3.7.4 Causes from employers Firstly: Employees not highly appreciate manners and competences of employers Table 3-4: Findings from quantitative analysis of employer factors influencing strikes Employer nluclanhdao1 Professionalism of business leaders 18 nluclanhdao2 nluclanhdao3 Human Resources management skills of business leaders Negotiation and problem-solving ability of business leaders Secondly, many FDIs violated regulations in terms signing labor contracts or collective bargaining agreements to avoid paying social insurance, health insurance, unemployment insurance for employees The results of the survey showed that 26% of employees said that they went on strikes because labor contracts were not signed and 27% said that insurance was not paid; Thirdly: many FDIs paid salaries, bonuses incorrectly, they cut down employees’ allowances and used bonus and welfare intransparently; Fourthly: strikes happened in FDIs with low productivity, low added value; low-technology; Fifthly: FDIs have strict regulations on compliance with production regulations; Finally: Employers and employees not understand each other's customs, language and behavioral culture 3.7.5 Causes from employees Firstly : employees were enticed and actuated greatly to go on strike Table 3-5: Findings from quantitive analysis of employees’ factors influencing strikes employees loikeo3 Being enticed and paid to join stoppages loikeo4 Being threatened and forced to join stoppages Secondly: Most employees in our country have low education level, only graduated from junior high school; Thirdly: employees are young immigrants; Fourthly: salary is too low and not enough for them to cover their necessities; Fifthly: employees in our country have some limitations in the sense of discipline and industrial working style Most of them are immigrants from rural areas so they feel constrained and difficult to adapt to the factory environment and that the income is inadequate; Conclusion of chapter The results of the structural model analysis (SEM) on the factors influencing employees’ intentions to go on strike show that the research model is consistent with sociological survey data and has practical significance The model explains 36% of the variation of the intentions to go on strike from trade-union-related factors; enticement and factors related to competence and leadership culture of employers The data of the model shows that roles and functions of trade unions and enticement are two factors that have great impact on the intention to go on strikes of employees The results of the binary logistic regression show that the characteristics regarding education, immigration and accommodation have great impact on past strikes The results of statistical survey on causes of strikes: For causes of strikes, it can be seen that experts emphasize salary, income and job satisfaction factors, then living conditions Meanwhile, from the employees side, they showed that the factors related to the environment and working conditions contribute the most to causes of strikes not income as mentioned in the national statistics of CIRD in 2015 Maybe over the past time, regulations of labor law have clearly stipulated the minimum income as well as terms and conditions that ensure the rights of employees, so the income and welfare factors are no longer pressing to become causes of strikes while working conditions and internal regulations still cause difficulties which are sometimes strict to employees 19 CHAPTER 4: SOLUTIONS FOR BUILDING HARMONIOUS INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AND LIMITING STRIKES 4.1 Basis for solutions 4.1.1 Based on strategy to orient and develop the SKEZ 4.1.2 Challenges of industrial relations in the coming years 4.1.3 Viewpoints and orientation In a market economy, conflicts of interest are not dealt with, leading to strikes Strikes are indispensable and objective issue in a modern market economy They are considered an effective tool to protect the rights of employees, which is inherently weak in comparison those of employers Strikes in some certain respects have positive impact They create motivation for competition and development of the labor market Therefore, it is necessary to orient strikes in future Firstly, building industrial relations in accordance with to new standards, aiming at ensuring harmonious and stable benefits; Secondly, the labor law system policies of the government and local authorities must ensure the legal framework for equal treatment among actors in industrial relations in FDIs; Thirdly, building a harmonious and stable industrial relations is the responsibility of both the political system and the whole society and the efforts of all actors in industrial relations; Fourthly, being well aware of industrial relations in FDIs is an equal, cooperative relationship that harmonizes rights, responsibilities and benefits among employees and employers and the government 4.2 Solution In general, the strike is a reluctant measure that is used to resolve disagreements between employees and employers Whether strikes comply with the law or not they disrupt business activities, causing material losses and hurting industrial relations among participating parties In order to have preventive measures and limit the spreading of strikes related parties need to implement some measures to build a harmonious, healthy and stable industrial relations, thereby, timely preventing labor disputes and strikes 4.2.1 From the government Firstly, the National Assembly and the Government urgently improve the legal framework for Labor, industrial relations and strikes, quickly amend the Labor Code (2012) so as to overcome current weaknesses; Secondly, reviewing, modifying and synchronizing the Trade Union Law, Civil Code including Criminal Law in industrial relations so that it is compatible with the Labor Code; Thirdly, improving meditation/conciliation and arbitration organizations and enhancing their competencies to support industrial relations at workplace It is necessary to have HR planning and add more labor inspectors; Fourthly, management boards of EPZs, IPs and Industrial Zones should set up a division to monitor and get good understanding of labor disputes in businesses under their management to timely prevent possible disputes that may lead to strikes; Fifthly, speeding up training and communicating labor law to employees, employers, and grassroots trade unions; Sixthly, the Government needs to establish and institutionalize three-party councils, functional councils in charge of industrial relations and is responsible for building national and regional labor laws and standards; urgently adjust the minimum wage to ensure employees’ livelihoods as well as to cope with fluctuations in the economic environment such as inflation and crises; Seventhly: Government and MOLISA need to 20 develop online training programs on labor law, labor safety; industrial working style and culture to offer free training to employees This means that IPs, EPZs, and districts’ vocational training centers can organize monthly video training courses then test and evaluate them with multiple-choice test and finally issue certificates to them Only those with certificates can be allowed to work in industrial parks, etc., Eighthly: accurately forecasting movement and development trends of Vietnam's labor market in the future as well as the major impacts from the current technological revolution 4.0 and building an appropriate human resources development strategy; Ninthly: Ministry of Science and Technology and MPI need to rebuild their science and technology development strategy that is suitable to the new era; strengthening project appraisal ability of DPI, IZ management boards Tenthly: investing funds, arranging land and directing the construction of trade union offices in industrial parks Eleventhly: making industrial relations become an independent scientific discipline and a compulsory subject in universities Finally, Speeding up investment in transport infrastructure in the Region 4.2.2 From the trade union Firstly: Vietnam General Federation of Labour should be streamlined to be more effective and suitable to the international practices; they should change the way of thinking to adapt to new environment Secondly: Trade union must truly represent workers and employees so that they can make use of their roles, functions and missions Leaders of grassroots trade unions or at least their chairmen should be the person in charge and should receive salary from trade union fund Thirdly: Vietnam General Federation of Labour should focus on training and improving the quality of activities of grassroots trade unions and immediate upper- level trade unions Fourthly: Vietnam General Federation of Labour needs to build some sample collective bargaining agreements by industry and by region, including those by province; Fifthly: committees of grassroots trade unions should constantly improve their competence, knowledge and skills to represent employees in negotiation upon signing of employment agreements and collective bargaining agreements Sixthly: grassroots trade unions need to build good relationships with both employers and employees, the leaders of grassroots trade unions must be an example in building and complying internal regulations strictly; and solve problems arising fairly, openly and transparently Seventhly: grassroots trade unions should actively cooperate with local authorities and professional bodies at all levels to organize annual general meeting for officers and employees, facilitating employees to raise their voices Eighthly: grassroots trade unions need to use communication methods with great impact such as internet and social network and promote spiritual and cultural activities to numerous employees In addition, it is necessary to organize regional trade unions to manage and associate provincial and city trade unions; timely direct and handle as well as update information on labour disputes and conflicts to one another and timely suggest solutions to limit the spread of strikes 4.2.3 From the employers Firstly, employers need to understand and strictly comply with the regulations of Constitution and laws on labor, trade union, insurance, etc., The businesses’ rules and regulations should be consulted with related parties and publicize at work Secondly, employers should continuously learn and improve their competencies and professional 21 qualifications, especially knowledge, skills and attitudes regarding human resource management Thirdly, businesses should pay salaries to employees on time according to employment agreements and collective bargaining agreements Allowances for employees should be publicized transparent and fair; facilitating employees to increase their income through reasonable overtime activities, balancing the working time and resting time Fourthly, they should actively train and foster professional skills of employees, communicate internal regulations and policies clearly in their companies; Fifthly, Business owners need to develop a mechanism for dialogue and periodic communication among employers, employees and grassroots trade unions Sixthly, they should facilitate the establishment and the effective operation of grassroots trade unions Employers should know that if the grassroots trade unions work well and they will be an important bridge to build harmonious industrial relations, as well as to serve as a communication channel reflecting the employees' wishes as well as a place to reconcile and share difficulties between businesses and employees Seventhly, Businesses should to promote collective bargaining and signing of collective bargaining agreements truly and meaningfully, avoiding doing so just for the sake of complying law Eighthly, they should increase businesses’ responsibilities in dealing with labor disputes and strikes Ninthly, employers can coordinate with the grassroots trade unions to save employees about 30 minutes to survey job satisfaction of employees at work then possibly suggest timely solutions to prevent disputes and conflicts from happening Tenthly: VCCI should urgently establish a representative office in provinces with many IPs such as in Dong Nai, Binh Duong and Long An to join-control industrial relations 4.2.4 From the employees: Firstly, employees need to trust and support grassroots trade unions and immediate upper-level trade unions in protecting their legitimate rights and interests Secondly, employees need to actively vote grassroots cadres who have real competencies and are able to protect their rights and interests Thirdly: It is necessary for them to have a high sense of learning and improving their professional qualifications and long-term commitment to their profession; Fourthly: they should fully participate in training sessions, communication sessions and seminars on labor laws; internal rules, labor regulations and safety; actively get good understanding of and participate in trade union activities to understand their legitimate rights and interests Fifthly: Employees need to know and get a good understanding of procedures for handling labor disputes and strikes Conclusion of chapter 4: The SKEZ has been and will continue to be the most active one with high-quality growth, which is considered the region sustainably developed It keeps on being the leader in the development of a knowledge economy; is a large urban cluster with a national urban function In the market economy, the fact that industrial relations are not good and conflicts of interests between parties are not settled will lead to strikes Strikes are an indispensable and objective problem of the modern market economy as well as an effective tool to protect the rights of employees, which are inherently weak in comparison with those employers Therefore, the government and authorities at all levels should not see strikes as a factor causing instability and should not limit them because not want them to happen In fact, strikes are is a signal alarming that industrial relations are problematic Managers should 22 change their perceptions so that they can make appropriate adjustments to address these problems Therefore, there should be an orientation in building harmonious and healthy industrial relations CONCLUSION The thesis has achieved its overall goal of building an analytical framework and a model to study the factors influencing strikes in FDIs and applying them to study typical cases at the SKEZ The objectives achieved includes: (1) Review, consolidate and evaluate the practical situation of industrial relations and strikes in Vietnam and worldwide to use as a bases for further researchers; (2) Analyze, consolidate, compare the theories applicable in the world regarding industrial relations to serve as bases for research and application in Vietnam; (3) Set up an analytical framework for industrial relations and strikes in Vietnam, combining with of macroeconomic and microeconomic factors using both both qualitative and quantitative methods; (4) Set up a quantitative model for analyzing factors influencing strikes, including two-party and three-party industrial relations from four groups of factors, namely, trade unions, employees, employers and internal regulations in businesses; (5) Set up a quantitative model for finding out characteristics of employees influencing the probability of strikes in FDIs (6) Identify factors and the extent to which each factor influences the intention to go on strikes of employees in FDIs, (7) Find out personal characteristics of employees influencing the probability of strikes in in FDIs; (8) Test, compare and evaluate causes of strikes from statistics of the authorities, experts and employees LIMITATIONS Although the thesis has discovered many new meaningful and highly applicable issues, there are still some limitations For example, survey data are mainly from FDIs located in EPZs and IPs The number of FDIs located outside these zones is still limited The model that forecast intentions to go on strike is significant and highly applicable however, its predictability is not high, so further researches should find out and add more variables that help to improve the predictability of the model so that it can be used as a basis for predicting intentions to go on strike and probability of strikes in FDIs SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCHES Studying macroeconomic factors such as economic growth, inflation and unemployment that affect strikes and timing of strikes Using Bargaining Theory and Asymmetric Information Theory to analyze strikes Analyzing strikes based on negotiation processes (Analyzing actions of stakeholders during the negotiation processes before, during and after strikes) 23 LIST OF SOME ARTICLES ALREADY PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR N Description Published in Training university-graduated Journal of Vietnamese association of education personnel in Vietnam: Theory equipments: ISSN: 1859-0810, Number 160, and Practice Issue no 1, Jan 2018, page 23-26 Illegal strikes: From education Journal of Vietnamese Ministy of information and communication perspective and communication: ISSN: 1859-3550, Issue No 331, Feb 2018, page 16-19 Collective stoppages in Vietnam: Economy forecast review: ISSN: 0866-7120, Practical situation and solutions Issue No 07, March 2018, page 29-30 Challenges of industrial relations Industry and Trade Manazine: Publication of in Vietnam in CPTPP scientific research and technological application results: ISSN: 0866-7756, Issue No 04, Apr 2018, page 28-33 Industrial relations institutional Industry and Trade Manazine: Publication of regulation system in Vietnam scientific research and technological during 30 years of Doi Moi application results: ISSN: 0866-7756, Issue (Reform) No 07, May 2018, page 30-35 Industrial relations theories Industry and Trade Manazine: Publication of scientific research and technological application results: ISSN: 0866-7756, Issue No 09, June 2018, page 139-144 Attracting foreign invested Economy forecast review: ISSN: 0866-7120, capital into Vietnam: Practical Issue No 22, Aug 2018, page 20-23 situation and solutions Practical strikes in FDIs in the Asia-Percific Economic review: ISSN: 0868SKEZ 3808, Issue No 527, Oct 2018, page 23-25 The factors that affect working Proceedings of The Nation Conference: Impact strike action in FDI enterprizes in of the industrial 4.0 on industrial relations and HCMC the quality of employment in FDI enterprises in Vietnam 10 Reasons Are Given for the International Journal of Financial Research, Current Wildcat Strikes in ISSN 1923-4023(Print), ISSN 1923Vietnam: The Blue-Collar 4031(Online), Workers' Perspective Vol 10, No 4; 2019, http://www.sciedupress.com/journal/in dex.php/ijfr/article/view/15899 (SCOPUS) 11 The factors that affect working Journal of Economic research (Accepted) strike action in FDI enterprizes in HCMC 24 ... enactment Availability of the latter method results in strikes being related to political events 2.1.1.2 The Theory of Bargaining and Strike Activity This theory attributes more strategic autonomy... interaction process 2.1.5 Theory of behavior and job satisfaction Job satisfaction is the attitude toward the most widely studied work among topics studied in industrial psychology, psychology and organizational... by the institutional settings of collective bargaining which may include the organizational structure, customs, and practices 2.1.1.4 Social change theory of strike This theory views rapid social