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?
The government must prepare future workers for the world of work, right from the school bench with knowledge on basic human rights, trade union rights and relevant labour rights.
Similarly, educational programmes on human rights and labour rights should also be aired on television, just as GE programmes are currently being aired on national television.
Labour topics should be equivalent to teaching moral in schools and students need to be labour-rights savvy by the time they are ready to seek employment.
With digitalisation rapidly changing the way we work and transforming the human relevance in various industries, it has become key to the survival of Malaysians to understand their rights at work, way before they start working in order to be ready to face the world of work.
This is one of MTUC’s 21 Workers’ Demands that was put forward recently in the run up to the 14th Malaysia General Election.
Address: Wisma MTUC,10-5, Jalan USJ 9/5T, 47620 Subang Jaya,Selangor | Tel: 03-80242953 | Fax: 03-80243225 | Email: sgmtuc@gmail.com.com