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?
Malaysian Trades Union Congress secretary-general G. Rajasekaran, in a statement,
refuted that they were illegal workers, as claimed by Immigration enforcement
director Datuk Ishak Mohamed.
<p>"Up to June, the company has deducted RM1,360 from each employee for the
foreign workers’ levy. The workers had produced their salary slips as evidence.</p>
<p>"On June 28, the foreign workers protested against the company’s
failure to renew their work permits. The workers were unaware that they were
holding expired work permits until several of their colleagues were detained
by police."</p>
<p>He said none of the workers was guilty of overstaying as alleged by the Immigration
Department. He added that if the department had checked its records, it would
have found out that the workers had entered the country with valid work permits.</p>
<p>"The company had deducted RM2.7 million from the workers’ salaries
but the money did not reach the Immigration authorities."</p>
<p>Rajasekaran said the Anti-Corruption Agency and Labour Department should investigate
whether there was any wrongdoing.
Address: Wisma MTUC,10-5, Jalan USJ 9/5T, 47620 Subang Jaya,Selangor | Tel: 03-80242953 | Fax: 03-80243225 | Email: sgmtuc@gmail.com.com