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?
Court chairman Datin Siti Saleha Abu Bakar ruled that the company had wrongfully
sacked the five men for wearing silent protest tags during working hours.
<p>She held that the technicians were only exercising their rights to express
their grievances after the company postponed its collective agreement bargaining
meeting. </p>
<p>She ordered that they be reinstated to their former positions without loss
of service, seniority and salary, effective May 1. </p>
<p>The workers are Mohd Noor Faizal Abd Aziz, Muhammad Redzuan Kamaruzaman, Othman
Awi, P. Sukumar and Badrulzaman Mohd Ghazali. </p>
<p>They had worn tags on June 25, 2001, which bore the words, <i>Majikan tidak
prihatin terhadap tuntutan dan kebajikan pekerja</i> (The employer does not
care about the workers’ claims and well-being). </p>
<p>Security guards removed the tags on the same day and the technicians were subsequently
charged with conspiring to instruct union members to illegally wear the tags.
</p>
<p>The company had contended that the wearing of the tags during working hours
and at the workplace was illegal on the grounds that it was not part of the
workers’ uniform. </p>
<p>Siti Saleha said, however, Airod had failed to prove this. </p>
<p>“The company had also claimed that the men’s misconduct had brought
disrepute to its image but it had not pleaded or proved that the words on the
tags were defamatory in any manner,” Siti Saleha said in the award, which
was handed down on March 10. </p>
<p>The court found that a domestic inquiry by Airod in August 2001 had accepted
the fact that the union had taken responsibility for the wearing of the tags
by its members.
Address: Wisma MTUC,10-5, Jalan USJ 9/5T, 47620 Subang Jaya,Selangor | Tel: 03-80242953 | Fax: 03-80243225 | Email: sgmtuc@gmail.com.com