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?
Asean Trade Union Council president Syed Shahir Syed Mohamud said the council,
which had formulated the charter, wanted these issues to be discussed at Asean
meetings.
<p>The Asean Social Charter was a consensus reached recently by trade unions in
Asean countries, with the exception of Myanmar and Brunei. </p>
<p>It will be presented to the Asean secretariat next month. </p>
<p>Among the principles outlined in the charter are the creation of employment
stability, the promotion of health and safety, ensuring wages are just and human
resources development. </p>
<p>Syed Shahir said it was important that the workers’ concerns were addressed
at the same time that business and trade issues concerning the South-East Asian
region were discussed. </p>
<p>“We don’t want Asean to be known as a cheap production centre with
each country competing to keep the wages low so as to keep their foreign investors
from shifting base to a cheaper labour alternative,” he said at a dialogue
with Malaysian union leaders and representatives here yesterday. </p>
<p>Syed Shahir, who is also MTUC president, added that Asean as a region should
take a stand against demands by multinational corporations to not improve wages
or work conditions just to maintain low production costs. </p>
<p>“We want core labour standards adopted in Asean for the benefit of all;
if the workers are paid well, they make a healthy consumer base for business
and trade,” he added.
Address: Wisma MTUC,10-5, Jalan USJ 9/5T, 47620 Subang Jaya,Selangor | Tel: 03-80242953 | Fax: 03-80243225 | Email: sgmtuc@gmail.com.com