Bus drivers in Ho Chi Minh City paid lower than regulated salaries
Friday, December 04, 2015, 16:19 GMT+7
Around 5,000 drivers and staff serving bus routes in Ho Chi Minh City have been paid salaries lower than the minimum level ruled by the government.
Despite this, they have still had to pay two compulsory counts of health and social insurance that are calculated based on the minimum salary level.
The situation has existed since 2013 at passenger bus transport companies in the city.
The minimum monthly salary was raised from VND2 million (US$89) in 2013 up to VND2.7 million ($120) and now sits at VND3.1 million ($138).
Drivers and attendants of the bus companies have been paid VND2 million a month for years, said Lam Van Phan, chairman of the passenger transport and travel cooperative Viet Thang.
As a result, many drivers have stopped working in order to find better-paid jobs, Phan added.
Cao Van Sang, director of the Ho Chi Minh City Social Insurance, said that any labor contract stating a salary of VND2 million a month is invalid because it violates current regulations.
The minimum salary paid to an unskilled laborer in the city now must be VND3.1 million per month or more, Sang said.
It has also been announced that the government will continue to raise the minimum salary in 2016.
Sang added that he does not believe any driver would accept a monthly salary of VND2 million a month for driving a bus. The rate of VND3.1 million a month is actually only applied to unskilled workers while bus driving belongs to a skilled labor award and should be compensated at a higher level than that.
Social Insurance payments are based on the salary of an unskilled laborer and so, it is only correct for the agency to collect the payments on the basis of the current minimum of VND3.1 million a month.
In the meantime, the management center of passenger transport in Ho Chi Minh City, in charge of operating bus companies and cooperatives, blamed the low salary payments on legislation, citing a decision by the local People’s Committee, numbered 23/2012/QD-UBND.
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