Vice President of the LFTU Simoun Ounlasy described the seriousness of the situation when speaking to Vientiane Times last week, saying that many workers have been exploited by their employers in various ways.

“People are being forced to work longer hours than the time stipulated by law. Some employees do not receive the pay they anticipated in line with the amount of work they do,” Simoun said.

“Some employers have not increased the minimum wage for their workers after the government issued a decree stipulating a higher minimum wage.”

One resident of Vientiane who works in a shop selling imported goods told Vientiane Times her employer delayed paying her wages for 15 days, meaning that if she wants to quit the job within this period, she would not be paid for those days.

Simoun said workers can send letters of complaint or call their trade union to report any form of unfair treatment so that the union can report the issue to the government.

He said some companies didn’t allow their workers to have the legal number of holidays.

Many employers still refuse to cooperate with trade unions by allowing them to enrol members in companies or factories as they fear the unions could interfere with their business operations and reduce their profits.

“From now on we will submit a list of the names of companies where labour oppression is reported or companies that do not cooperate with trade unions to the government and other relevant sectors, in the hope that the law will be enforced,” Simoun said.

Under the law relating to trade unions, employers must allow the establishment of a trade union in their business within six months of starting operations, but many companies have ignored the ruling.

Simoun said there were many challenges in protecting workers’ rights given that trade unions have been established in only 30 percent of more than 124,870 private businesses and enterprises operated by Lao citizens and foreigners in the country.

At present, Laos has over 551,200 labourers, of whom many are unskilled or have few skills. About 70 percent of them work in the industrial sector.

However, trade unions have been established in all ministries, government agencies and departments as well as at the provincial, district and grassroots levels and have almost 210,420 members. There are over 7,200 trade union units at the grassroots level.

The inflow of foreign investment has contributed greatly to the growth of the country’s economy, but has posed a challenge for the LFTU in carrying out its work as some operators often try to cut costs by not paying their workers properly.