The statement above was made by the Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Confederation of Labor, Ngo Duy Hieu, at the Conference on Nutrition and Food Safety at Mid-shift Meal for Workers in the Textile and Garment and Footwear Industries, organized by the Vietnam National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (Vietnam Confederation of Labor) in collaborating with the National Institute of Nutrition (Ministry of Health) on October 9th in Hanoi.
Photo: Dr. Do Tran Hai, Director of the Vietnam National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, delivers the opening remarks at the Conference
In his opening remarks, Dr. Do Tran Hai, Director of the Vietnam National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, stated that: Over the past years, the trade unions have taken practical measures and actively collaborated with employers to take care of both material and spiritual lives of laborers, contributing to improving workers’ health. Aside from these achievements, the mid-shift meals of workers in many companies and enterprises still fail to meet the requirements of reproducing labor power; poor food quality and insanitary processing conditions have led to the risk of food poisoning. In 2016, the Vietnam Confederation of Labor set the goal of reaching the agreement on minimum mid-shift meal allowance of 15,000 VND in collective bargaining and encouraging companies and enterprises to improve the quality of mid-shift meals. However, this issue has been neglected by some grassroots trade unions. Textile and garment and footwear industries are amongst the labor-intensive industries but nutrition for workers in those industries has not been paid due attention. Over 2 years, VNNIOSH carried out research and surveys on nutritional status and health problems of approximately 9,000 workers in 48 companies and enterprises in textile and garment and footwear sector throughout the country, and the results showed that: the general rate of anemia was 17.3%, of which 21.5% was female. The rate of anemia in footwear industry was 20.6%, higher than 16.3% in the textile and garment industry.
Picture: Comrade Ngo Duy Hieu, Vice President of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, gives speech at the Conference
Speaking at the Conference, Vice President of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, Ngo Duy Hieu, noted that organizing the Conference on Nutrition and Food Safety at Mid-shift Meal for Workers in the Textile and Garment and Footwear Industries right after the 12th Congress of the Vietnam Trade Union is meaningful, demonstrating the determination of the Vietnam Trade Union to renew itself in order to meet the needs of integration and development. Textile and garment and footwear industries are two labor-intensive industries with hard work, therefore, mid-shift meals are of highly important. However, the lack of criteria and regulations causes many difficulties in improving the quality of meals for workers.
“It is important to include the issue of mid-shift meals into the upcoming revised Labor Code. Mid-shift meals should be the responsibility of employer; and food quality as well as food safety must be ensured”- Hieu said.
During the Conference, participants considered and discussed the issues of: Nutritional status of workers in textile and garment and footwear industries; Results of the survey on energy consumption and ergonomic burden of workers in textile and garment and footwear industries; Status of food hygiene and safety of mid-shift meals; Nutritional status of mid-shift meals; Food hygiene and safety in mid-shift meals cooking process; etc.
Picture: Overview of the Conference
The Conference also discussed the draft of the set of nutritional criteria for mid-shift meals, draft of the set of food hygiene and safety criteria for mid-shift meals, and received constructive feedbacks to improve the quality of results, set the basis for proposing to the government for consideration and promulgation regulations relating workers’ mid-shift meals.
(Source: Vnniosh.vn)
