The life and income of the most "attractive" workers in the land of palm trees

When mentioning Lam Thao Superphosphate and Chemical Joint Stock Company, everyone immediately thinks of the first and largest fertilizer and chemical factory in the North, with a campus of dozens of hectares in Lam Thao district (Phu Tho). In a working environment with many chemicals, workers here have their own hardships compared to other workers, which places a huge responsibility on the company's Board of Directors.

How can the working environment in the factory always be safe, green - clean - beautiful? The quality of meals and workers' lives are guaranteed and continuously improved? How does the system operate to ensure revenue growth, workers feel secure in contributing, dedicating and attracting talented people?... Those questions always come back again and again, requiring not only the Company's Board of Directors but also related departments to painstakingly research and think in order to improve the quality of material and spiritual life of workers.

Mr. Le Minh Tuan - Vice Chairman of the Trade Union of Lam Thao Super Phosphate and Chemical Joint Stock Company said that although the fertilizer industry has had difficult times in production and business, Lam Thao Super Phosphate has the advantage of a 62-year tradition, so from the infrastructure system to the cultural institutions have been fully built. With the help of the former Soviet Union, along with the factory system, Lam Thao also has a housing area for workers living far away, spacious canteens capable of serving hundreds of people; there are soccer fields, volleyball courts, swimming pools, tennis courts...

"In charge of the union, we always research and think of jobs to take better care of workers, but above all, it is still not as difficult as ensuring the health and safety of workers when working in fertilizer and toxic chemical production lines. Therefore, every day and every hour, we always remind and educate workers to strictly follow labor safety procedures, fire prevention and fighting... Absolutely do not cut corners or do things carelessly. Many times there are steps that seem unimportant, but have potential risks of unsafety, so in addition to covering vulnerable locations, prone to rotating objects and explosions, we emphasize prevention methods as the main method" - Mr. Tuan said.

Regarding workers' lives, Mr. Le Minh Tuan affirmed that it can be said that in the past 5 years, especially since the new young and creative General Director, workers' lives have been continuously cared for, raised to a new level, deeper, higher, and more complete.

"For example, with shift meals, Supe Lam Thao has increased the meal rate from 22,000 VND/person/day to 55,000 VND/person/day. Recently, the company has invested billions of VND to renovate 5 houses: shift dining room, bathroom, changing room, dormitory... Most recently, we have focused on changing all protective clothing for workers, accordingly, we have meticulously researched the fabric, color, and size to ensure comfort and coolness. Each worker's clothes are fully embroidered with their full name and department.

In particular, the company's Board of Directors also invested in a modern washing machine system so that every day when work ends, workers only need to shower, change into protective clothing and the washing machine will wash everything. The next morning, everyone will have new, fragrant clothes to wear to work. Just yesterday, we went to survey the drying cabinet to prepare for investment, helping the work of drying workers' clothes conveniently and quickly" - Mr. Tuan happily shared.

Pointing to two gift bags in the corner of the room, Mr. Tuan said that they were cordyceps and bird's nest drinks that the company had just given to all 1,850 people to improve their health.

"Everyone gets 2 equal portions. On the occasion of the God of Wealth Day in early 2024, for the first time, each worker was also awarded 1 tael of gold with the logo of 3 palm leaves of Supe Lam Thao. This gift is worth nearly half a month's salary, and is also a unique form of reward, associated with the company's long-standing prestigious brand, so everyone is excited and proud" - Mr. Tuan said.

According to Ms. Trieu Thi Sau, Electromechanical Warehouse Manager, it can be said that the income level and reward regime, health care for workers at Supe Lam Thao are among the most "attractive" in Phu Tho province. In total, bonuses for New Year, Lunar New Year, company founding day, International Labor Day..., each person receives about 60 million VND/year. The special thing about Supe Lam Thao is that the bonus of the General Director is the same as that of the workers, consistent from normal bonuses to Tet gifts, ensuring fairness.

"As employees, we are extremely excited that for the past 2 years, the Company's Board of Directors has bought us life insurance and allowed us to travel domestically. Last September, for the first time, I and 61 other outstanding workers were selected to go on a 5-day, 4-night tour in Singapore and Malaysia. These are wonderful rewards that I never dreamed of. Therefore, not only me but many employees dream of working and contributing at Supe Lam Thao" - Ms. Sau excitedly shared.

Ready to give "hot" rewards to employees with good and unique initiatives

Talking to Dan Viet, Mr. Le Minh Tuan - Vice President of Supe Lam Thao Union added that, along with ensuring safety and ensuring the production environment, product quality is still the decisive factor for the survival of a business. Therefore, Supe Lam Thao always promotes research to improve technology, research and apply technical innovation initiatives to ensure quality, while optimizing production, reducing costs, contributing to reducing fertilizer prices.

"The company regularly rewards individual initiatives, has a policy of encouraging "hot" rewards, and at the end of the year, there will be a review meeting to receive additional rewards. Among them, good initiatives and topics that benefit the company will be rewarded up to 900 million VND" - Mr. Tuan said.

For example, in 2023, three Subcommittees of the Supe Lam Thao Innovation Council met to review, specifically evaluate and propose the General Director of the Company to recognize 229 topics and initiatives of 512 authors (including 145 female authors) with a total value of over 13 billion VND. Of which, the Innovation Council selected outstanding individuals who met the criteria and were proposed by 4 comrades to the higher-level trade union for consideration and the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor to award Certificates of Merit and Creative Labor Badges; 33 comrades were considered to receive the title of Creative Labor by the General Director.

The initiatives and topics in 2023 cover all areas of work in the Company's production, business and life activities. A typical initiative that the company applied in April 2024 is "Research and implementation of production solutions to directly export NPK fertilizer products: NPK 12-5-10, NPK 12-3-10, NPK 12-3-13 on the rotary drum production line using steam to pelletize, create dried granules at NPK Line 4".

This initiative helps create NPK fertilizer products with round, beautiful granules, especially overcoming the hardening of the product, so it has been possible to export the product directly to customers after production (without having to carry out the steps of storing and rolling the product when selling as before). Saving costs of loading, unloading, rolling and crushing the product, expanding the warehouse area to arrange raw materials and products, with a profit value of more than 713 million VND.

Or the initiative "Developing and implementing a plan for planning raw material and product warehouses at Super Fertilizer Plants 1 and 2 to stabilize the quality of superphosphate, meeting the quality of commercial superphosphate and internal superphosphate for NPK production in accordance with the current conditions of declining apatite ore quality", has also been applied by the company at Super Fertilizer Plants 1 and 2 since January 2023.

The above initiative helps to thoroughly separate ore according to input quality, ensuring that commercial superphosphate batches meet quality requirements according to the published TCCS; ensuring that NPK-S product batches use stable superphosphate raw materials and meet effective _P2O5 quality standards _. Ensuring stable production in the context of increasingly declining Apatite ore quality and eliminating costs incurred due to having to recycle substandard product batches.

Mr. Tran Dai Nghia, Deputy General Director of Lam Thao Superphosphate and Chemical Joint Stock Company, said that thanks to the continuous promotion and encouragement of scientific research movements, the company's savings initiatives have become more and more practical and profound, contributing to the company's successful completion of its planned goals.

"In 2024 and the following years, Supe Lam Thao will continue to launch the science and technology movement, innovation and focus on all areas of work and positions. Whether the proposer is a manager, engineer, employee or direct production worker, the Company will respect and consider encouraging them to promote creative ideas" - Mr. Nghia said.