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?
THIS year, the MTUC once again observes Workers Day swaddled in doom and gloom
due to its mounting troubles.
<p>The umbrella body’s melancholic Workers Day theme this year, Globalisation
Erodes Workers Rights, is reflective of its precarious position as well as its
battle to stay relevant in the wake of the new economy. </p>
<p>Continuous attempts by the MTUC to strengthen itself are of no avail given
that less than 10% of the nation’s 9.2 million workers are unionised. The emergence
of new employment sectors, which have no tradition for unionisation, as well
as the comprehensive employment contract offered by companies are also factors
behind the decline in membership. </p>
<p>"Basically, the traditional role of the trade union is to bargain with
employers for remuneration for its members but these benefits are now automatically
included by companies in their employment contracts," explains Universiti
Malaya lecturer Thirunaukarasu Subramaniam. </p>
<p>"So, there’s nothing left for the unions to ‘fight for’ with employers."
</p>
<p>Thirunaukarasu, who teaches labour issues at the university’s South East Asian
Studies Department, says the increase in the number of "sophisticated"
workers and decline in the number of blue collar jobs are also factors behind
the weakening of the trade union movement here. </p>
<p>MTUC secretary-general G. Rajasekaran attests that the umbrella body’s problems
are far more complicated, with its biggest bane currently being the overly rigid
Trades Union Act 1959 and the Industrial Relations Act 1987. </p>
<p>Besides preventing the MTUC from strengthening itself in numbers, both legislations
compartmentalised workers and stopped them from organising into bigger groups,
explains Rajasekaran. </p>
<p>For instance, employees working in a company which makes chairs are not eligible
to join the Metal Industries Employees Union because besides metal, foam and
rubber are also used to manufacture chairs. </p>
<p>"There’re just too many restrictions for people to become union members
and it also takes years before a union is granted recognition by the authorities,”
says Rajasekaran. </p>
<p>Because of such restrictive legislation, a large number of workers make do
with in-house unions, which do not come under the purview of the MTUC. But even
these are riddled with problems, says Rajasekaran. </p>
<p>"If a company changes its name or even if it removes one word from its
original name, the in-house union automatically ceases to exist. Members will
then have to go through the entire registration process again, including the
several years of waiting for recognition,” he says. </p>
<p>However, such problems are not only unique to the MTUC as the declination of
the trade union movement is a global phenomenon due to the shift of employment
from the industrial sector to the services sector. Legislative attacks on union
rights are currently rampant in industrialised countries such as the United
Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. </p>
<p>The UK’s Employment Act 1982, for instance, prevents international trade union
solidarity by outlawing industrial action by British trade unionists in support
of their colleagues in other industries and countries. </p>
<p>UK’s Trade Union Congress (TUC) general secretary Brendan Barber says union
membership in the UK fell from its peak of 12 million to its current 6.4 million
over the last 20 years primarily due to the industrial restructuring of the
country’s economy. </p>
<p>"What has happened is that areas of the workforce in which union members
worked have reduced dramatically, particularly the manufacturing sector. </p>
<p>"At the same time, new areas of the economy have developed, for example
in the services, leisure and retail sectors, from which unions do not have members,”
says Barber when contacted. </p>
<p>Like the MTUC, one of the biggest challenges faced by the TUC is the erosion
of workers rights due to new emerging employment trends. </p>
<p>"In the UK, many workplaces are finding their rights undermined by the
so-called ‘flexible labour market’ which allows employers to replace staff with
workers with no permanent contract and far fewer benefits, such as pension,”
says Barber. </p>
<p>Coming back to the Malaysian scenario, the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF)
says it hopes that the MTUC will make an effort to keep up with the changing
times </p>
<p>"Basically, trade unionism is not something static and the MTUC has to
look at things happening around it and adopt the necessary changes to move ahead,”
says MEF executive director Shamsuddin Bardan. </p>
<p>According to Shamsuddin, employers are no longer able to compete on low cost
wages as the current trend’s emphasis is on increased productivity. </p>
<p>"Both employees and the MTUC, together with employers, must look at how
we can be more competitive as a nation but there is a lot of resistance against
change from the unions which still want to hold on to the old practices,” says
Shamsuddin. </p>
<p>He adds that the current work culture requires people who are multi-skilled
and capable of carrying out multiple tasks at their respective workplaces. </p>
<p>"When the employers talk about pushing for multi-tasking and multi-skilling,
the trade union movement says that it’s exploitation of the highest order. Just
look at Singapore, where multi-tasking and multi-skilling are both in practice,
wages and productivity are three and four times higher respectively, than in
Malaysia,” says Shamsuddin. </p>
<p>The MTUC’s biggest problem, reckons Shamsuddin, is its unwillingness to change
in accordance with the new work culture and trends. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, ILO’s specialist on international labour standards and labour law
Tim De Meyer states that it is not right to expect the trade union movement
to compromise on issues such as job security as it is its responsibility to
protect the interest of workers. </p>
<p>He says the ILO is in favour of high productivity as it will ensure higher
wages, but it wants employers and governments to ensure that it has the fundamentals
to push for increased efficiency and yield. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, says De Meyer, Malaysia, like many other countries in the region,
does not have the necessary system to allow workers to equip themselves with
multiple skills. </p>
<p>"If you want a worker to move from a less productive job to a more productive
one, there has to be in place a professional training system to prepare him.
There must also be some sort of employment insurance to ensure that the worker
receives guaranteed income support while he prepares himself for the transition,”
adds De Meyer. </p>
<p>Provisions should also be made by way of legislation to allow the MTUC to reinvent
itself as well as pull in more members, says De Meyer. </p>
<p>He reckons the trade union movement does not have to become a redundant fixture
as it could evolve into a platform that offers services such as Occupational
Safety and Health (OSH) protection, among others. </p>
<p>"There are a lot of worker-related services that can be transferred from
the government and statutory bodies to the trade union movement. </p>
<p>"In some countries, individuals, especially professionals, can also engage
trade unions to negotiate on their behalf with potential employers,” he says.
</p>
<p>Judging from the plight of the MTUC, it will take serious political will to
set the ball rolling, to ensure its survival. </p>
<p>Unless something is done immediately, it is likely that Malaysia’s move towards
industrialisation would be the final cast of the die that would seal the sad
fate of the nation’s trade union movement.
Address: Wisma MTUC,10-5, Jalan USJ 9/5T, 47620 Subang Jaya,Selangor | Tel: 03-80242953 | Fax: 03-80243225 | Email: sgmtuc@gmail.com.com