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?
Supermarket chains – including Japanese and Western multinationals – employing 10,000 people will be the first priority in a unionising drive backed by UNI Commerce and UNI Liaison Council Malaysia that will also embrace migrant workers.
<P>“Our job is to organise the unorganised and we will
make the Commerce sector number one in Malaysia,” Liaison Council President
Mohamed Shafie BP Mammal told a project workshop, held in UNI offices in Nyon,
Switzerland. “We will be a help desk for these workers and we are going to
have workshops to train their leaders.”</P><P>The project is part of a wider
UNI-Asia Pacific strategy to step up organising in commerce – currently weakly
organised outside of Japan and Australia and with the multinational retailers
fast arriving.</P><P>“We want to help commerce workers in supermarkets in
Malaysia to be able to take a pride in their work and to enjoy good working conditions
and decent pay,” said UNI-Asia Pacific’s Hashim Lobe. Multinationals
targeted include Carrefour, Tesco and Isetan plus Bernas, a big local supermarket
chain.</P><P>Malaysia has more than two million migrant workers who take up an
increasing number of low paid commerce jobs in a country with a booming retail
market. They are thought to represent 20% of the commerce workforce in Malaysia.</P><P>Wages
can be as low as $50 US a month with migrant workers coming from Nepal, Indonesia,
India, Pakistan, Thailand, the Philippines, Burma and Vietnam.</P><P>“We
need to move the trade union movement forward and to grow unions,” said UNI
Development’s Raul Requena when opening the meeting.</P><P>For Handels Roger
Hemming emphasised the need for on-the-ground organising activities. “You
have to start in the storehouse and in the shops, we have to face ordinary people.”</P><P>UNI
Commerce’s Marcus Petersson welcomed the project and said Commerce would
help to translate good relationships with European multinationals into assistance
for the project in Malaysia.</P><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr valign="top"><td width="50%"><img src="images/articles/2007/0.A5A.jpg" width="170" height="193" alt=""><br>
<br> Markus Pettersson, Policy Officer, UNI Commerce Global Union</td><td width="50%"><img src="images/articles/2007/1.131E.jpg" width="170" height="214" alt=""><br>
Hashim Lobe, UNI Apro Director for Union Development</td></tr> <tr valign="top"><td width="50%"><img src="images/articles/2007/3.47D8.jpg" width="227" height="151" alt=""><br>
Mohamed Shafie BP Mammal<br> President UNI-Malaysian Liaison Council, MLC<br>
Carin Andersson, UNI Project Manager<font size="2"></font></td><td width="50%"><img src="images/articles/2007/7.2C0A.jpg" width="227" height="149" alt=""><br>
Raul Requena, Assistant General Secretary & Head of UNI Development</td></tr>
<tr valign="top"><td width="50%"><IMG SRC="images/articles/2007/11.2A9A.jpg" WIDTH="227" HEIGHT="151" ALT=""></td><td width="50%"><img src="images/articles/2007/15.3578.jpg" width="227" height="151" alt=""><br>
Stina Isaksson, International Secretary, Handels, Sweden</td></tr> <tr valign="top"><td width="50%"><img src="images/articles/2007/19.30FE.jpg" width="170" height="183" alt=""><br>
Roger Hemming, Project Coordinator – Dalarna/Gävleborg Branches, Handels, Sweden</td><td width="50%"><img src="images/articles/2007/23.2702.jpg" width="227" height="151" alt=""><br>
Philip J. Jennings, UNI General Secretary<br> Mohamed Shafie BP Mammal<br> President
UNI-Malaysian Liaison Council, MLC</td></tr> <tr valign="top"><td width="50%"><img src="/icons/ecblank.gif" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""></td><td width="50%"><img src="/icons/ecblank.gif" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""></td></tr>
<tr valign="top"><td width="50%"><img src="/icons/ecblank.gif" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""></td><td width="50%"><img src="/icons/ecblank.gif" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""></td></tr>
</table><P><I>Source: http://www.union-network.org/unidrd.nsf/0/F82C783966C2E2A0C12572BA00523D70?OpenDocument</I>
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