WORDS ON THE STREET 70th anniversary of Hanoi's Liberation Day Vietnam - Asia 2023 Smart City Summit Hanoi celebrates 15 years of administrative boundary adjustment 12th Vietnam-France decentrialized cooperation conference 31st Sea Games - Vietnam 2021 Covid-19 Pandemic
Jul 08, 2016 / 16:33

Giving a special priority to labourers affected by mass fish deaths

The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs will give priority to labourers affected by the mass fish deaths in the four central provinces in the Employment Permit System programme it signed with the Korean Ministry of Employment and Labour in May 2016, which sets to recruit 3,500 Vietnamese workers as maximum.

The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) has set up some programmes to support labourers affected by a recent environmental incident in central provinces, especially those in poor coastal districts. 
According to the MoLISA and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, around 230,000 labourers are being affected by the marine environmental incident caused by Taiwan’s Formosa Ha Tinh steel company. 
Answering the media, MoLISA Deputy Minister Doan Mau Diep said a comprehensive scheme on vocational training, job creation and labour export is expected to be devised in the nearest future.
Deputy Minister Diep said the MoLISA will give priority to those living in affected coastal districts in the Employment Permit System programme the ministry signed with the Korean Ministry of Employment and Labour in May 2016, which sets to recruit 3,500 Vietnamese workers as maximum. 
Other labour export programmes, like Japan’s IM programme, those involved coastal fishing with the Republic of Korea (RoK) and Taiwan, or a programme to train orderlies for Japan and Germany, will also prioritise labourers in the affected region, he noted. 
Besides, under the Vietnam-Thailand labour cooperation agreement, Thailand will officially welcome Vietnamese working mainly in coastal fishing and construction starting from July 1. The Thai partners also committed to giving jobs to the Vietnamese without charging intermediary fees. 

 
Illustrative image.
Illustrative image.
The MoLISA will submit a proposal to the government to help poor residents in affected areas benefit from a project on assisting poor districts in strengthening labour export, contributing to sustainable poverty reduction in the 2009-2020 period. 
The Deputy Minister also said the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development suggested affected fishermen to switch from near-shore fishing to off-shore fishing.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is working to submit a proposal to the government to provide soft loans and use the national fund for employment support for the fishermen. The ministry is seeking to help the affected fishermen go fishing in other waters until Vietnam’s marine environment is safe, he added.
Payment of health and social insurance will also be adjusted following the incident, with the support of State funding, according to Diep. 
For those who hope to do other jobs, the MoLISA will coordinate with affected localities to offer training that meets demands of both labourers and the market.