THE COLLECTIVE LABOR AGREEMENT

The question of Client regarding to The collective labor agreement:

Article 81, Labor Code 2012 regulates:

“Within three (03) months before the expiry of a collective labor agreement, the two parties may bargain an extension of the duration of the collective labor agreement or enter into a new one.

In case the collective labor agreement expires during the bargaining process, it must continue to be implemented for maximum sixty (60) days.”

Question 1:

According to the above regulation, then the two parties can negotiate to extend or sign the new collective labor agreement within 03 months before expiry date.

It can be inferred that the two parties may not sign if no agreement is reached because the nature of the collective labor agreement is a written agreement between the employees’ collective and the employer about the labor conditions that the two parties have achieved through collective negotiation and the content of the collective labor agreement is not contrary to law and should be more favorable to employees.

Question: Is this inference correct?  ->  Yes, this is.

Question 2:

The regulation “In case the collective labor agreement expires during the bargaining process, it must continue to be implemented for maximum sixty (60) days.” It is only right when applying for 60 days after the expiration. Then, there is no longer apply.

Question: if after 60 days the two parties still cannot reach the final agreement after the negotiation, the employer may not sign a collective labor agreement, it is right?

Answer:

1. According to Clause 1, Article 68 Labor Code, the old collective labor agreement ceases to be valid, and if there is a suggestion of a continuous one, the employer has no right to deny the negotiation.

Therefore, if the employees’ representative organization does not suggest negotiating one new collective labor agreement, the employer will not have to sign the new labor collective agreement.

2. According to point a, clause 2, article 24 the consolidated document No. 4756/VBHN-BLĐTBXH dated 19/01/2015, the employer may be fined from 10 to 20 million dong for denying the negotiation.