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?
MTUC today received a delegation from the members of the House of Representatives from Japan. The delegation was led by Mr Kazuma Nakatani, Member of the Japanese House of Representatives and the CDP Youth Division Director, as well as, leaders from various parts of government administration. Among the MTUC representatives who were present at the visit were Bro J Solomon, MTUC Secretary-General, Bro Jey Kumar, MTUC Vice President, Bro Zul Thye, MTUC Project Coordinator and Sis Aimi, Union Coordinator.
The discussion began with a presentation from Bro Zul Thye, who presented a brief history of MTUC, the role and function of MTUC in helping all workers, both local and foreign, within the service center. Various questions on how to handle cases, as well as, employee issues were discussed and explained to all present.
Bro Solomon, on the other hand, presented information on the current situation of employment, the economic situation of the workers and information on influx of foreign workers in Malaysia. Among the issues that Bro Solomon elaborated on were the influx of foreign workers that had begun to increase after the 80’s, which has left the local workers’ pay scale slightly affected. And after the 90s, the influx of foreign workers into commercial value was seen as a benefit to some irresponsible parties, who only contemplated the benefits of the entry of these foreign workers, rather than on a balanced workforce demand factor.
The Japanese delegation was very interested and impressed in the way the MTUC plays its role and responsibility in fighting for the betterment of workers, even for foreign workers in Malaysia. This is not visible in Japan, because to this day, Japan has not allowed unskilled foreign workers to work in their countries.
At the end of the discussion, both parties hoped to forge a better working relationship on matters related to improving the workers’ economy. The MTUC and the Japanese delegation exchanged memorabilia as a token of appreciation for this visit.
Address: Wisma MTUC,10-5, Jalan USJ 9/5T, 47620 Subang Jaya,Selangor | Tel: 03-80242953 | Fax: 03-80243225 | Email: sgmtuc@gmail.com.com