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?
During one such dialogue here yesterday, the National Union of Bank Employees
(NUBE) president S. Sivabalan said it was imperative for bank employees to remain
relevant in changing times and social dialogue was one way to achieve it.
<p>“When the playing field changes, instead of obstructing change we should
manage it by learning new skills to face new challenges. </p>
<table width="10%" border="0" align="center">
<tr>
<td>
<div align="center"><img src="images/news/2007/nube.jpg" width="300" height="220"></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><font size="1" color="#333333">Mass rally: Some 800 members of the National
Union of Bank Employees marching their way to Dataran Merdeka to join their
counterparts from other trade unions at a Workers Day gathering. The event
was held at the square last night where about 3,000 members of various trade
unions under the Malaysian Trade Union Congress turned up.</font></td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>“Employees together with the employer can have social dialogues which
means having discussions on how to overcome issues or problems that arise to
achieve a collective win-win situation,” he told some 800 union members
who were present. </p>
<p>Also present were representatives from major banks, NGOs, the Malayan Commercial
Banks Association and the Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC). </p>
<p>Sivabalan said banks were starting to take this concept seriously and that
it was also time to look at the value of a bank employee. </p>
<p>“The average union member does not do your typical clerical work having
learnt extra skills but is still paid about RM900 a month. This is why there
is a proposal seeking a 30% increment for the next collective agreement.”
</p>
<p>Later, NUBE members marched to Dataran Merdeka to join their counterparts from
other trade unions under the MTUC. </p>
<p>MTUC president Syed Shahrir Syed Mohamud told the 3,000-odd people gathered
there that the fight would continue for a minimum wage law to be implemented
and that unity had to be maintained for there to be a change.</p>
<p><i>Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/5/2/nation/17608900&sec=nation</i>
Address: Wisma MTUC,10-5, Jalan USJ 9/5T, 47620 Subang Jaya,Selangor | Tel: 03-80242953 | Fax: 03-80243225 | Email: sgmtuc@gmail.com.com