In the Vietnamese labour law，numerous articles also specifically prohibitemployers from exploiting workers'labour.For example，where disciplinary finesare taken from workers'salaries，it is stipulated that？the aggregate amount deductedmust not exceed 30per cent of the monthly wage ì；with regard to workers on probation，the wage of the employee？must be at least 70per cent of the normal wage for thejob ìand the trial period should not exceed sixty days ……ì（Article 32）；[73]the workplace's internal labour regulations ？must not be contrary to labour legislation……ì（Article 82.1）；and prior to proclaiming any labour regulations，？theemployer must consult the executive committee of the trade union of the enterpriseì（Article 82.2）。None of the above specifics exist in the Chinese law.Yet inChina these are precisely the kinds of practices that managers have used to extractfrom their workforce harder work for less pay.
But the biggest difference between the two laws is that after intense debate，[74]Vietnamese law-makers granted workers a right to strike（Article 7.4，173）。The Chinese labour law，by omission，effectively places the issue of strikes ina state of limbo：neither legalizing nor criminalizing it.
Diverging Labour Regimes
The above comparison of the two countries'laws and constitutions suggests thatthe Vietnamese Communist Party is more willing to relax its hold on the labour unionsthan is the Chinese Communist Party.But organizational inertia ，the ideologicallegacies of socialism and the two governments'present eagerness to maintain labourpeace and to attract foreign capital make for a large gap between what is writtenon paper and the reality of what gets implemented.In this section we shall arguethat while the situation with regard to labour in both countries continues to share ？socialist ìcharacteristics ，there are definite signs of divergence as well.
In the state enterprises，a collectivist ethos and corporatist structure sometimespersists，and the similarities continue.The line of demarcation between managementand labour in practice remains blurred in the state factories of both countries.In Vietnam，the workplace union has representation on the？council of four interestsì（bo tu ？management ，Party，trade union and youth league ）in which it seemsto be able to play a role in wage determination and distribution of profits andin approving management decisions.[75]Similarly，in Chinese state enterprises ，wage policies are supposed to need the approval of the staff and workers'representativecouncil.But since a large number of the so-called representatives are members ofthe managerial staff，including the managers ，a system of checks and balancesdoes not exist.[76]The organizational structure in Chinese state enterprises isheavily weighted against the workers.In contrast ，the presence of a trade uniondoes make a difference at a Vietnamese workplace.Our fieldwork findings revealthat the Party branches are more likely to follow recommendations from the tradeunion.