Collective agreements. A comparative study of Swedish and Vietnamese labour law systems

Abstract: In recent years, Vietnam has witnessed its economic slowdown. In the labor market, low wages, poor working conditions, violations of labor law are common; labor disputes and strikes increase and these have been negatively affecting workers' lives. Reason for this situation is that the market economy has developed at a higher level; Vietnamese enterprises have become more and more competitive. In the struggle for survival, they seek for lower production costs by all possible ways, including wages and the workers unavoidably became a victim. Labor relations are not harmonious because of the imbalance of bargaining power between the two bargaining actors; collective agreements are underdeveloped. By using a comparative approach, mainly focusing on the labor legislation of Vietnam and Sweden, this dissertation provides relatively in-depth analyses on theoretical and practical issues of collective agreements. It also points out the remaining shortcomings in the Vietnamese bargaining legislation and puts forwards various recommendations to improve the bargaining system in Vietnam.