Malaysia is one of Asia's biggest employers of foreign labour. But recently, cases of deaths, abuse and forced labour have come to light. What is going on? Who is protecting these migrant workers?
The workers from at least seven oil palm plantations and two palm oil mills
have been on strike since Saturday, demanding that their employer abide by an
Industrial Court ruling in March to pay their 33-month salary increment arrears.
<p>Zainal Mohamad, 44, from the Swee Lam estate in Kulai said they had no choice
but to resort to this action as they had not received any pay increase or bonus
for the past six years.</p>
<p>"How are we to feed our families? Everything else has gone up except our
salary," he said, adding that each harvester can earn up to RM1,000 a month.</p>
<p>National Union of Plantation Workers (NUPW) Johor branch secretary S. Narayanasamy
confirmed that the plantation workers had not gone to work for the past four
days.</p>
<p>IOI Plantation director Datuk Foong Lai Choong could not be reached for comment
but an official from IOI Plantations said not all the workers had gone on strike.
He said negotiations were under way but declined to elaborate.
Address: Wisma MTUC,10-5, Jalan USJ 9/5T, 47620 Subang Jaya,Selangor | Tel: 03-80242953 | Fax: 03-80243225 | Email: sgmtuc@gmail.com.com