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?
For the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC), the Employment Act, which manages and regulates human resources in Malaysia, is already flexible and adequate for the country to maintain global competitiveness.
<P>The law is not strict and thus, there
is no need for any change, said Syed Shahir Syed Mohamud, president of the private
sector-based umbrella labour body.</P><P>He said any effort to make the law more
flexible in the name of global competitiveness would jeopardise employment security
for workers.</P><P>He was commenting on a recent news report that the Human Resources
Ministry is considering a proposal by employers to make the current labour law
more flexible for companies to downsize their workforce, following complaints
by employers that they need to undergo restructuring to remain competitive in
the international market.</P><P>The proposed changes include putting a cap on
the amount of compensation that industrial courts can award to retrenched workers,
and reviewing the rights of workers under probation to seek redress if they are
retrenched.</P><P>Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Dr Fong Chan Onn was quoted
as saying that such changes should be accompanied by a retrenchment fund to help
the affected workers.</P><P>"Are you saying that we should make it easier
(for employees) to be pushed around or sacked. What about the position of security
of tenure of employment?" Syed Shahir argued.</P><P>He said it was for this
reason that the MTUC opposed the move.</P><P>He questioned the need to implement
such flexibility, when 90% of the employees in Malaysia are not unionised and
employers generally do have a free hand in managing human resources.</P><P>He
said the government should instead look into addressing labour issues faster,
pointing out that there are thousands of cases languishing before the Industrial
Court.</P><P>He said there were cases that were filed in 2003, which had yet to
be referred to the court.</P><P>On the other side of the argument, the Malaysian
Employers Federation (MEF) has been pushing for more flexibility in determining
the tenure of employees over the last few years.</P><P>MEF’s executive director,
Samsuddin Bardan, said flexibility of work tenure would ensure better and more
effective utilisation of human resources.</P><P>He cited the system adopted by
Singapore as a good example, where the manpower requirement is adjusted according
to the need, which arises from time to time, and according to the situations and
conditions. According to Samsuddin, it is a hassle to change a shift-based employee
to normal work hours, and vice versa.</P><P>There would be less hassle and problems
if a flexible work environment is adopted, he said.</P><P>Hotels in the east coast,
for example, would benefit from such flexibility, he said.</P><P>"Even during
the off tourist season, the workers come to work but there is no work to be done,"
he said. There is a need to address this situation, he said.</P><P>On the proposed
retrenchment fund, Syed Shahir said the MTUC was agreeable to it but stressed
that employees should have a say in it.</P><P>It is learnt that employers feel
that they should not have to contribute to such a fund because they are concerned
that even bad employees would end up benefitting from the fund.</P><P><I><FONT SIZE="1">Source:
http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=16555</FONT></I>
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