UPDATE 1-Vietnam plans union reform to avert trade woes, risking foreign firms’ unease

Communist-ruled Vietnam is expected to ratify this year the UN convention for the free establishment of trade unions, UN officials and diplomats said, in a move meant to cut risks of trade disputes but likely leaving some foreign companies uneasy. The long-delayed measure would be a major formal step in the tightly controlled one-party nation where the only existing national trade union operates within the Communist Party structure, although it is unclear how and when the convention, once ratified, would be actually applied.