Circular No. 5-LDTT stipulates working hours at State-owned enterprises and construction sites.

CIRCULAR

Provisions on working hours at government enterprises and construction sites.

THE MINISTER OF LABOR

||| Respected,||| Chairmen of the People's Committees, inter-districts, and Hanoi

||| Directors of Labor Zones and Hanoi Labor Departments

||| At the beginning of February 1955 session, the Council of Ministers decided the daily working hours at government enterprises and construction sites, including state-owned agricultural enterprises, as follows:

||| "The officially set working hours at government enterprises are eight hours per day,||| when necessary,||| it can be extended up to ten hours, at construction sites (including state-owned agricultural enterprises), it is set from eight to ten hours||| per day (study and living activities must be arranged outside these designated hours)."||| The Ministry provides additional explanations for proper implementation.

||| The purpose of setting working hours is:

I. PURPOSE AND SIGNIFICANCE

||| - To take care of workers who have worked nine hours a day during the nine years of resistance war, now that peace has been restored, it is necessary to officially set the working hours at eight hours to ensure labor strength.

||| - On the other hand, it is also necessary to ensure the recovery and boost production to timely fulfill the programs and plans.

||| - All levels need to clearly explain to workers and agencies using workers to implement this system so that everyone is enthusiastic and actively competing to complete the programs and plans of the enterprise and construction site.

||| II. FORM OF IMPLEMENTATION

||| AT GOVERNMENT ENTERPRISES

||| The general principle is eight hours per day, when necessary, it can be extended up to ten hours. That means at enterprises, the official working hours are eight hours except for cases mentioned below.

||| 1. Application of the general principle:

||| In enterprises where work organization is relatively strict, with rules, tasks are clearly assigned. During working hours, workers must continuously use their labor force. Therefore, the official working hours must be limited to eight hours per day. Within those eight hours, the following times should be clearly defined by enterprise regulations, with worker agreement:

||| Time for workers to clean machines and arrange tools before leaving the workshop.

||| Time for workers to wash hands and change clothes or bathing time for some workers due to the dirty nature of their work.

||| Rest break time between working hours.

||| Breastfeeding time (for women with children under one year old) which is specified as thirty minutes each shift.

||| Time for workers and staff to collect wages.

||| 2. When necessary, i.e., in extraordinary circumstances, it can extend up to ten hours.

||| Although the general rule is eight hours, there are situations where due to common interests related to national plans, or urgent and private interests of individual enterprises, working hours may extend to ten hours. For example:

||| - Situations requiring timely completion of deadlines for emergency economic recovery programs.

||| - Situations involving extremely urgent matters related to national defense.

||| - Situations involving unexpected risks such as power machinery failure, water and electricity production machine failure, etc.

||| - Situations where work is delayed due to factory closure due to rainstorms, natural disasters, or local incidents like infectious diseases, and workers need to make up lost production hours.

||| - Situations where preventive measures against impending accidents are required. For example: major floods require moving raw materials, machinery, equipment, products, etc. Or repairs and maintenance due to accidents, such as derailment or overturning of trains.

||| 3. Regularly necessary cases exceeding eight hours including presence time:

||| Additionally, in enterprises, there are types of workers within the eight-hour period who do not actually work continuously, their presence time can be more than the time stipulated according to the general principle depending on the specific enterprise situation. For example:

||| Nurses, gatekeepers, workshop guards, warehouse managers, workshop directors, deputy directors, electricians on standby to repair faulty parts, high-level officials' car drivers (not transport drivers).

Type 1||| These individuals live and eat within the enterprise premises, their presence time and working hours can exceed eight hours.

||| Workers responsible for power machinery, workers responsible for repairing or cleaning machinery and equipment, sweeping furnaces, team leaders when changing shifts, etc. Due to the nature of their responsibilities, these workers must arrive earlier and leave later than others, thus their working hours and presence time must exceed eight hours.

Category 2:||| Such special cases will be regulated by the internal rules of each enterprise.

||| B. AT CONSTRUCTION SITES (including state-owned agriculture)

||| Working hours range from eight to ten hours. That means:

||| a) Depending on the importance and urgency of the construction site (for example: dyke construction sites, railway construction sites, etc., which are important) and direct benefits.

||| b) Depending on the organizational situation of each construction site (for example: dyke construction sites organized loosely, slow concentration of manpower, lack of equipment or unreasonable distribution, etc., then working hours can be longer at a construction site where tasks are assigned and equipment is well prepared).

||| c) Depending on the intensity of the work. In special cases, there are really arduous jobs, such as hanging oneself to drill rocks, riveting, the working hours must be less. It could be less than eight hours.

||| Therefore, the general regulation is from eight to ten hours but must be applied appropriately to each case to benefit production while ensuring the health of workers. Thus, at each construction site, except for special cases adding or reducing hours, there is only one unified hour system.

||| For example: Railway construction site working hours are nine hours.

||| Bridge construction site working hours are eight hours.

||| Dyke construction site working hours are ten hours.

||| determined at the planning stage but must be communicated to workers when working.

||| For state-owned agriculture, due to the current nature of the work being manual, working hours are also set according to the above principle.

||| The cases of adding or reducing hours mentioned above will be clearly stated in the internal regulations of the construction site and state-owned agriculture.

Trường hợp thêm hoặc bớt giờ nói trên sẽ được nêu rõ trong bản nội quy của công trường và quốc doanh nông nghiệp.

Although the working hours have been set (for example, 8 or 10 hours), if after a period of work it is found that the production plan cannot be guaranteed, additional hours may be prescribed but not exceeding 10 hours. For example, from 8 hours to 9 or 10 hours, or from 9 hours to 10 hours. As in the case of Bai Thượng Dam, water must be promptly supplied to the paddy fields for planting winter crops, or the construction site of the railway between Hanoi and Mu Cang Chai must be completed by the end of February 1955. In state-owned agriculture, seasonal work must be done on time, otherwise it will harm crops and reduce yields, such as during coffee harvesting or sugar cane pressing, etc.

SHORTENED HOURS

To consider the health of workers engaged in extremely arduous jobs, the working hours may be reduced below 8 hours. Examples:

Working underground (in mines)

Working underwater (divers)

Working at heights (climbing ropes, scaling poles, or hanging from ropes to perform tasks such as loosening rivets...)

Performing jobs involving toxic substances like acid, etc., and those harmful to the body such as glassblowing, etc.

OVERTIME HOURS

The working hours mentioned above are the standard working hours. These should be clearly stipulated in the factory rules and regulations. If workers have to work beyond the standard hours, they shall be entitled to overtime pay. The total number of overtime hours plus regular hours per day shall not exceed 12 hours, and annually not more than 150 hours.

In cases where overtime is required to stabilize production following an accident or to urgently repair critical risks related to public interest such as electricity and water supply, there will be no limit of 12 hours per day as stated above, with the aim of completing the work quickly. However, overtime hours must gradually decrease to the regular schedule, for example, during emergencies, it could be 16 hours, but will gradually reduce to 14, 12, 10, 9, or 8 hours.

Overtime pay shall be calculated according to current regulations. The method of calculating overtime pay is as follows:

Divide the salary and personal allowances by the number of hours required to work daily (standard hours)

- If the salary is monthly, calculate the average over 25 working days per month.

Pregnant women who are six months or more pregnant or nursing mothers with children under six months old, and children under 16 years old, shall not be required to work overtime beyond the officially prescribed working hours for workers as stipulated in the factory rules.

NIGHT WORK

According to current regulations (SL.77), night work hours are from 9 PM to 5 AM.

DAYS OFF

Workers in factories or construction sites are entitled to:

Weekly rest: one day off after every six working days.

Public holidays: as decided by the Council of Ministers in their December 1954 session.

One day for New Year's Day (January 1st)

Two and a half days for Lunar New Year (evening of the last day of the lunar year, first and second days of the lunar new year).

One day for Buddha's Birthday (April 8th lunar calendar)

One day for Buddha's Enlightenment Day (December 8th lunar calendar)

One day for Easter Sunday (the first Sunday in April)

One day for All Saints' Day (November 1st)

One day for Christmas (December 25th)

One day for Independence Day (September 2nd)

One day for International Labor Day (May 1st)

If a holiday falls on a Sunday, there will be no compensatory day off.

Administrative and management staff, technical officers, planning officers working in factories or construction sites, if required to work nights or overtime due to work demands and unable to arrange compensatory rest, shall also be entitled to overtime pay.

The Ministry has outlined the situations requiring the application of working hours regulations in government factories. Relevant agencies employing workers will collaborate with the Ministry of Labor to establish specific circumstances and cases and guide factories and construction sites in implementation.

Cadres at all levels and sectors need to explain to all workers the purpose and significance of the new working hour system, post the official working hours of factories and construction sites, and apply adjustments appropriately so that workers do not have doubts, are enthusiastic and motivated, and strive to fulfill production plans.

Hanoi, March 9, 1955