Vinashin will cut down nearly 14,000 employees following its restructuring plan.— File Photo

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — The Viet Nam Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (Vinashin) will lay off nearly 14,000 employees as part of its restructuring plan, Vinashin leaders announced in a meeting with the Ministry of Transport on Monday in Ha Noi.

The restructuring plan was approved in 2010, after Government inspectors uncovered Vinashin's financial malpractices. At the end of 2009, the group was more than VND86.7 trillion (US$4.1 billion) in debt.

In the first phase, the corporation plans to lay off 8,000 employees. After the second phase, only 8,000 will be left.

A representative from Vinashin's Department of Labour-Wage told Biz Hub: "Each company operates in a different business sector and uses a different operating model. So each company will classify its own employees and send the list to the corporate department of labour. This evaluation process is open, transparent and democratic."

At the meeting, Minister Dinh La Thang asked Vinashin leaders to guarantee the rights of the dismissed workers, since cutting thousands of employees could have a huge impact on society and the economy. Economic expert Nguyen Minh Phong talked to Biz Hub that Vinashin needed to decrease multisectoral investment to get out of debt, which led to the mass dismissals.

"Dismissing workers must be carried out in public. The information must be open and the process of selecting employees to be let go must be fair and carefully supervised," he said.

"Vinashin can also choose a flexible option such as decreasing working hours."

Besides implementing the employee-restructuring plan, Vinashin will focus on restructuring its debt as well as business production, operation and management. In the first eight months of 2013, the corporation handed over 20 out of 69 ships. Its revenue reached VND2,700 billion (approximately $128 million), or 39.67 per cent of the yearly target. — VNS