Since that historic moment, the spirit of May 1 has been not only a festival of the working class, but has also become deeply intertwined with the destiny of the nation. Its meaning is even more complete as the entire Party, people and army also commemorate the Liberation of the South and National Reunification Day on April 30.
Looking back on the 140-year historical journey since the struggle of workers in the city of Chicago in the US erupted, marking a brilliant milestone in the history of human development, the spirit of International Workers’ Day has retained its timeless value. Under the leadership of the Party, the Vietnamese working class has carried both the aspiration for national independence and reunification and the struggle for its own rights and interests.
In 2012, at the proposal of the Viet Nam General Confederation of Labour, the Party Central Committee’s Secretariat agreed in principle to designate May every year as Workers’ Month, turning International Workers’ Day into a peak period for the entire political system to join efforts in caring for the material and spiritual lives of workers; strongly arousing emulation movements for good and creative labour; and building harmonious, stable and progressive labour relations in enterprises.
This is vivid evidence of the Party and State’s increasingly profound attention to strengthening the leadership of Party committees and enhancing the responsibility of authorities in the strategy of building a strong working class, contributing to the country’s overall development.
Entering a new era, the country is accelerating industrialisation, modernisation and extensive international integration. The country’s socio-economic development achievements have always been accompanied by the very important contributions of the working class and the labour force.
Fully aware of this, the Party and State have continuously improved the system of policies and laws; vocational education and training programmes, retraining to improve the quality of human resources; regulations on wages, social insurance, health insurance, and occupational safety and health; while social housing, trade union institutions, and the cultural and spiritual life of workers have received greater investment and attention.
In this journey, the Viet Nam Trade Union plays an irreplaceable role, promoting its representative function, protecting legitimate rights and interests, and providing practical care for trade union members. Through patriotic emulation movements, especially the Good Labour, Creative Labour movement, the trade union organisation creates a favourable environment for every worker to promote initiatives, improve skills, and affirm their solid position in enterprises and society.
This year’s commemoration of International Workers’ Day is not only an occasion to recall glorious pages of history, but also a moment for reflection and for strongly arousing the aspiration to conquer new heights.
The immortal spirit of May 1 continues to kindle enthusiasm among tens of thousands of trade union officials and millions of trade union members and workers, all striving towards the goal of double-digit economic growth and building a peaceful, independent, democratic, prosperous, civilised and happy Viet Nam.
It is also an occasion for every cadre, Party member, worker, civil servant and employee to gain a fuller and deeper awareness of the glorious traditions of their class; to constantly study and train themselves, improve their political mettle and professional qualifications, promote initiatives, make technical improvements, and move towards mastering science and technology.
For trade union officials, especially grassroots trade union officials, it is more necessary than ever to further promote their proactive and pioneering role, properly perform their function of representing, caring for and protecting workers’ rights and interests; and focus strongly on dialogue and collective bargaining, truly becoming a reliable and solid support so that trade union members and workers can feel secure in production and enthusiastically emulate in dedication.
With their noble historical mission and great responsibility to the nation, the working class and the Viet Nam Trade Union are joining the entire Party, army and people in wholehearted and concerted efforts to steadily advance into a new era, write new golden pages of history, and realise the aspiration for a strong and prosperous Viet Nam.
