Labor Classes with Lindsey!

This is my third day in Vietnam, and I am finally beginning to recognize landmarks on campus. My morning routine consists of walking down a long sidewalk to the Canteen for an iced coffee (black), and grabbing oat-flavored snacks from the adjacent campus store. Today is our first Monday in class, and we are all still getting to know each other; what I enjoyed most about our course today was having the opportunity to speak with both my peers from Cornell and from TDTU to get a sense of everyone’s research interests.

After an introduction, we were each given the opportunity to delve into a particular topic related to labor in Vietnam by giving presentations throughout the week. I chose to present on labor laws and unions along with four other Cornell students. As we discussed our upcoming schedules, the excitement in the room was palpable; not only would we have the opportunity to hear about the research of TDTU instructors, we would also have the opportunity to speak with both industry and NGO stakeholders, including representatives from IKEA and Better Work Vietnam.

As I continue to move forward and hone my topics of interest, I am most looking forward to speaking with representatives from IKEA to get a fuller sense of how multinationals in Vietnam operate, particularly at the administrative level. With this in mind, I hurried to pack my things and headed to the Canteen for a lunch of tofu, fresh vegetables, and steamed rice to continue to get to know my cohort.

Farewell celebration with Addison!

Today was the last day of the program! After a short class, all six of us in the group went to the mall for lunch. Then, we practiced our dance sequence for the ceremony! We are doing the YMCA, the Macarena, and the Cha-Cha Slide. We practiced for a while, then it was time for the celebration! A few of the Vietnamese students gave speeches, and we all gave little speeches too. Then, we brainstormed ways to stay in touch and decided we’ll meet in Dubai in five years! Finally, the time cane for our dance performance!! We were able to get the students to join us for the dances, and little did we know, the Vietnamese students had a dance for us to do together! After all the dancing, we all exchanged gifts! After that, giant dinner feast time!! There were a lot of interesting dishes, and they were all super yummy. I sat next to a girl who taught me words and complimented my chopstick skills. The craziest part of the meal was the hot pot that boiled fish alive! Crazy but delicious! After that, we did karaoke! I walk into a super fancy room, and a girl is singing a Taylor Swift song, so I jump right in!! At some point, Andrew joins too. I sang lots of songs! It was so fun! Finally, it was time to say goodbye. It was sad, but Dubai in five years! (Hopefully!) 

Learning Vietnamese Labor Law with Rija!

Today was a typical day for us at TDTU. The quadruple we were all staying in was hustling and bustling by 9 AM, and we were ready for our day. The first order of the day was ‘café su da’ from the English Café, which arguably has the best coffee on campus even though the barista had no fancy machines and poured the brew from her thermos. 

Coffees in hand, we made our way to our classroom, where we learned about Vietnamese Labor Law. Being ILRies and having focused on American Labor Law in the past, it was fascinating to learn about the Labor Law System in Vietnam. On paper, most agree that the law is very favorable to workers and their rights. However, enforcement of the law is weak, and penalties for those who violate it are non-existent. We also happened to be in Vietnam, just as the new labor laws were being introduced and had the opportunity of discussing their ramifications with both professors. In particular, the new law would allow freedom of association in Vietnam as opposed to the central union, the VGCL.

I found the paternalistic role of the government in labor law very interesting as laws like paid maternity leave, minimum wage and a cap on overtime suggest good intentions. However, the government needs to balance the interest of Foreign Direct Investment. These are questions that many countries in the region are no doubt battling with. 

The other highlight of my day and I daresay my trip, was being introduced to the all-encompassing service app called ‘Grab’. Grab works like Uber, Uber eats, a hotel booking service, payment portal, and even package delivery service. This allowed me to start tasting different kinds of bubble tea every day! I recommend ‘Bobapop,’ but the local favorite seems to be ‘Koi’.