According to regulations, employees with contracts in the cooperative sector are subject to compulsory social insurance contributions.

It is true that at co-operatives that operate effectively, there is a high possibility that their workers participate in social insurance.

For example, in Meo Vac District of the northern province of Ha Giang, in 2016, taking advantage of local climate and soil conditions, Hoang A Pao, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ta Lung Agricultural Service Cooperative started to run three main business groups – alcohol making; beekeeping, honey processing and purchasing agricultural products, providing agricultural materials and breeding services.

Illustrative image (VSS)

After six years, the cooperative has brought to the market clean, reputable and quality products. As a result, its members and employees have living conditions improved and their incomes.

However, few regular employees at cooperatives participated in social insurance.

Things have changed.

Pao said that currently, the cooperative's revenue was about VND3 billion per year, creating jobs and paying social insurance contributions for 12 regular employees and 24 members. The co-operatives also hire over 100 seasonal workers who have an average income of over VND5 million per month.

"I hope that the co-operatives can buy more products from local farmers, which helps deepen the images of the local specialties in consumers’ mind. Moreover, the cooperative can create more jobs and pay social insurance for more employees," said Pao.

Meanwhile, 42-year-old Rach Gam Cooperatives in the southern province of Tiền Giang has all 455 employees taking part in social insurance.

Illustrative image (VSS)

Thanks to its good business, it can afford social insurance contributions for all employees. So, the social security benefits of its employees are ensured.

According to the provisions of Article 2 of the Law on Social Insurance 2014, employees at the cooperatives must participate in compulsory social insurance, health insurance and unemployment insurance if they are managers and executives who get paid;  people who work under indefinite-term labour contracts, fixed-term labour contracts or seasonal labour with contracts with terms from 3 months to less than 12 months; and people working under labour contracts with a term from 1 month to less than 3 months.

However, not many cooperatives participate in social insurance because most of them use freelance and seasonal workers.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, by 2020, the number of cooperatives participating in compulsory social insurance was over 7,400, accounting for about 28.6 per cent of the total cooperatives.

The number of workers at co-operatives participating in compulsory social insurance was over 41,500 people, accounting for less than two per cent of regular employees in the cooperative.

From 2016 to 2020, the Government of Vietnam issued and revised many social insurance policies to expand the subjects participating in social insurance but the number of social insurant participants in co-operatives is still modest.

To overcome the limitations, it’s necessary to promote the provisions of the law on social insurance with cooperatives, employees and members of cooperatives.

The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs also proposed to continue reviewing and perfecting the legal system of social insurance to attract more workers in co-operatives to join social insurance.

Notably, the implementation of compulsory social insurance for contracted employees and members of collective economic organisations is also mentioned in the Party Central Committee’s Resolution 20-NQ/TW in 2022 on continuing renewal, development and improvement of collective economic efficiency in the new period.

The resolution sets out the requirements relating to compulsory social insurance for contracted employees and members of collective economic organisations.

Those members who do not participate in compulsory social insurance shall be supported to join voluntary social insurance./.