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?
Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) have separately
endorsed the longstanding call by Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC) for
the past decade for such a law to be enacted.
<p>In a weekly press conference held at the party headquarters in Brickfields,
PKR secretary general Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said the introduction of
a minimum wage act was "the easiest way out" to solve the problem
of poverty in the country.</p>
<p>He also expressed disappointment that the government under leadership of Prime
Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi had rejected a memorandum sent by MTUC without
"implementing any study or organizing any dialogue sessions".</p>
<p>"PKR was also disappointed that the Prime Minister has chosen to ignore
calls by MTUC leaderships to meet and discuss on (this) issue of worker’s rights,"
he said.</p>
<p>"We therefore urge all party members to take part in a picket on Aug 8
that will be held nationwide to demand for a minimum wage (act)," he said.</p>
<p>Also present at the press conference were PKR vice president Sivarasa Rasiah
and MTUC financial secretary A. Sivananthan.</p>
<p>PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang had earlier expressed support for
the picket and urged party members to lend their support.</p>
<p>A wage of RM140 per month</p>
<p>Sivananthan said there are workers in "the northern states" of the
country who are being paid a basic salary of RM140 and expressed concern that
there might be many others in the same predicament.</p>
<p>He said of the nine million workers in the country, only some ten percent were
in some form of unionized organization.</p>
<p>"The other 90 percent is at the whim and fancy of the employer,"
he said adding that the contracts of employment that any workers entered to
were often at the discretion of their employers.</p>
<p>He also reiterated the MTUC’s rejection of government proposals to form an
inquiry body as well as a wage council to monitor workers wages in specific
industries.</p>
<p>He said regardless of the amount of a minimum wages the government "must
accept the concept of introducing minimum wage (act)".</p>
<p>Sivananthan said the picket which would start at 5.30pm in various sites nationwide
was also held to get the government to re-negotiate amendment to Industrial
Relation Act and Workers Union Act to be tabled in Parliament for second reading
this month.-Saadon Aksah/ES</p>
<p><i>Source: http://englishsection.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=132&Itemid=2</i>
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