The textile companies in Vietnam have completely rejected the Government’s proposal to increase the retirement age of textile workers.
The government plans to draft a bill wherein the retirement age of men and women will be increased to 62 (from 60) and 60 (from 55), respectively. The textile sector, while condemning the proposal, said this will increase the workload of women by several manifolds as they constitute majority of the workforce.
More on the same, Bui Duc Thinh, Chairman, Song Hong Garment JSC, said at a recent seminar that women workers are already under lot of stress as they work for 10 hours – and sometimes more.
He added that the existing retirement age of 55 for women was already very high and further increase would make things very difficult for them. Besides, there are several instances where women even bribe doctors so that they get early retirement on medical grounds.
Lot of women workers in Vietnam’s textile sector retire between 35 and 40 and they then use all their retirement benefits to set up their own business.
Truong Van Cam, General Secretary, Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) said that the Government should first increase the retirement age for administrative sector and only after 5 or 10 years, it should think of doing the same for manufacturing sector.
Reportedly, social insurance funds are limited in Vietnam and the nation’s retirement and social benefit funds are expected to face a shortfall from 2023, which is a big worry. Besides, according to International Labor Organization (ILO), the Government may subsidise the pension system from 2034.
