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About 150 workers and 20 Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) representatives were on foot today to send memorandums to protest against ‘union busting’.
At about 10am, they started their walk from Keretapi Tanah Melayu station in Kuala Lumpur towards the offices of the Bar Council and Suhakam.
Railwaymen’s Union of Malaya (RUM) representative Abdul Razak Md Hassan said the march was the climax of a protest against the sacking of 41 Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) workers.
“We walk today to denounce this act against the right to be in a union,” he said.
National Union of Transport and Allied Workers and National Union of Bank Employees were also represented.
The memorandum urged the Bar Council and Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) to demand that the government stop infringing on union rights and as well introduce laws to prevent employers from committing such violations.
The protesters split up into two groups, one to the Bar Council, and the other to Suhakam.
They were dressed in black while chanting “Hidup pekerja” (long live workers) and “hentikan pencabulan hak pekerja” (stop violating the rights of workers).
The first group, headed by the MTUC president Khalid Atan, handed over a memorandum to Bar Council’s deputy chief executive officer Chan Oy Sim.
They regrouped in front of shopping complex Sogo and walked towards Suhakam to hand over the same memorandum to its commissioner James Nayagam.
“We are walking today to condemn the violations committed towards us that can destroy the unions in this country. These violations have an adverse impact on the future of the workers in Malaysia,” Abdul Razak said in a speech before meeting the commissioner.
Around 12pm Nayagam met up with Abdul Razak and a few other representatives for a 10 minute discussion.
Previously, RUM had challenged KTMB president Elias Kadir to debate with the union to explain why its members were sacked. The assembly dispersed around 12.45pm.
Source: Malaysiakini
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