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?
Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Dr Fong Chan Onn in announcing this Thursday,
said the two organisations at the National Labour Action Council (NLAC) meeting
at the ministry this morning came to the consensus that there was a need for
a safety net for retrenched workers in the country.
<p>"The NLAC also came to the conclusion that there was a need for amendments
to the country’s labour laws to be on par with the changes taking place in the
dynamic labour market.</p>
<p>"There is a general feeling that current laws are not flexible enough
to allow businesses to flourish, especially in terms of workforce," he
told reporters before the Ministry’s Hari Raya and Deepavali celebrations.</p>
<p>He said the ministry had sent a team of officials who included representatives
from the MEF and MTUC to the United Kingdom and Australia to observe the changes
in the labour ordinance of these two countries.</p>
<p>He said workers in these two nations had a safety net to look after those who
had been retrenched or were unable to perform their duties due to other reasons.</p>
<p>He said the Human Resources Ministry had set up a special committee, headed
by the ministry’s secretary general Datuk Thomas George, to examine the changes
needed to existing labour laws to pave the way for the setting up of a safety
net for workers.</p>
<p>"Although the Social Security Organisation (SOCSO) covers this area, it
is not comprehensive as it does not look at workers who are retrenched. The
special committee will look at various aspects of the safety net and come out
with proposals."</p>
<p>He said the NLAC was of the view that retrenched workers needed to be paid
unemployment allowance and that this be borne by employers.</p>
<p>"There are ideas about how this safety net should be, but it is up to
both parties, MEF and MTUC, to agree on the proposals. It should be like a retrenchment
and compensation scheme," he added.</p>
<p>He said another issue to be looked into by this committee would be the setting
up of a labour arbitration tribunal as it had been found that the present system
using the Industrial Court to settle labour disputes took time and were cumbersome
for the affected parties, especially workers.</p>
<p>"We have found that going through the Industrial Court takes a lot of
time and workers cannot tolerate this long period before a verdict is reached.
The present system also allows parties to appeal the Industrial Court’s decision
to the High Court and this makes the waiting time even longer ," said Fong.</p>
<p>On another note, the minister said the MEF and MTUC had also at the NLAC meeting
agreed to promote productivity-linked wage system in an effort to better the
nation’s workforce. — BERNAMA
Address: Wisma MTUC,10-5, Jalan USJ 9/5T, 47620 Subang Jaya,Selangor | Tel: 03-80242953 | Fax: 03-80243225 | Email: sgmtuc@gmail.com.com