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PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) today slammed Human Resources Minister M Kula Segaran for his “arrogant and militant type” attitude over the proposed labour law amendments.
It said that contrary to Kula’s claim, he “did not allow the NLAC (National Labour Advisory Council) to discuss and reach joint solutions to the amendments” which were passed by the Dewan Rakyat recently.
Kula’s assertion that his ministry had effectively engaged MTUC and the Malaysian Employers’ Federation (MEF) – the two main constituents of NLAC – was “false and misleading”, it said.
Yesterday, the ministry denied MTUC’s claim the amendments were rushed through the Dewan Rakyat and that the two groups were not consulted.
It said it did not need the “endorsement” of the groups, adding that the International Labour Organisation Convention 144 on Tripartite Consultation only “expresses consultation and not endorsement”.
The ministry also challenged MTUC to “tell all Malaysians which provisions of the bill (Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2019) you agree or disagree with and why”.
In a statement today, MTUC said it is compiling a list of its objections to the amendments which will be made public.
It said the amendments do not reflect the wishes or aspirations of their respective members and affiliates.
“A number of the amendments are in direct contradiction of other provisions of the labour laws and international labour standards.
“Some of the amendments will also lead to disharmony among unions and cause chaos in the companies which will forsake the rights of the workers to pursue collective agreements with employers effectively,” it said.
MTUC called on Kula and his ministry officials to stop issuing “half-baked statements that do not address his unilateral actions in tabling bad laws” at the current Parliament meeting.
“The minister has taken a very arrogant and militant like approach in dealing with our basic complaint in that he refused to allow NLAC to discuss and reach joint solutions on the proposed amendments to the Industrial Relations Act (IRA) before tabling them in Parliament.
“This was the promise he made at one of the NLAC meetings, which he obviously did not keep,” it said.
MTUC said the ILO convention defined tripartite consultation as “the interaction of the government, employers and workers (through their representatives) as equal and independent partners to seek solutions to issues of common concern”.
“In a nutshell, tripartite consultation means the three parties discuss and reach a joint solution,” it said.
On the ministry’s claim that it had held several meetings with MTUC and MEF under the auspices of NLAC to discuss various issues, MTUC said it had failed to mention how many of these meetings had specifically discussed the proposed labour law amendments.
“Kula Segaran has been giving misleading statements but has not responded to our challenge to make public the minutes of the NLAC meetings,” it said.
MTUC also criticised the ministry for saying that “scores of individuals and organisations” had welcomed the amendments as ground breaking and a game changer, whereas it could only cite two individuals.
The congress and MEF have urged the Dewan Negara to reject the amendments and send them back to NLAC for a review.
Source: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/…/mtuc-slams-kula-for-ar…/
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