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 American Federation of Labour and Congress of Industrial Organisations (AFL-CIO) and the Malaysian Trades Unions Congress (MTUC) are poised to ink a joint declaration agreed upon in Kuala Lumpur last week.
The declaration resembles those that U.S. labour
federations had previously signed with their counterparts in South Korea in June,
Central America (2002) and Australia (2001),
The Kuala Lumpur declaration
on the proposed US-Malaysia FTA asserts that economic integration between the
two countries must result in broadly shared benefits for working people and communities,
not simply extend and enforce corporate power and privilege. It also warns that
violations to workers rights had reached crisis levels.
The AFL-CIO
is a voluntary federation of 54 national and international labour unions, representing
10 million workers in the United States. The MTUC, on the other hand, is an umbrella
movement of Malaysian trade unions representing half a million workers.
The
swiftly agreed joint declaration by the trade union movements stands in stark
contrast to the floundering official U.S. FTA negotiations with Korea and Malaysia.
US trade officials are struggling to wrap up their separate negotiations with
both countries by March so that the drafts can be presented to the US Congress
for approval before the expiry on Jun. 30 of a fast-track trade promotional authority.
Malaysian
International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz said it was unlikely the
U.S.-Malaysia FTA negotiations could be completed before the deadline, but Malaysia
was willing to continue beyond that in any case.
Trade negotiations have
stumbled over thorny issues such as US firms access to government procurement
and the service sector in Malaysia. In Korea, the concerns are over the opening
of car, beef and pharmaceuticals markets and U.S. anti-dumping rules.
On
the strategy of joint trade union declarations, Kuala Lumpur-based economist Subramaniam
Pillay feels that the US labour federation has traditionally been protectionist
of jobs while the MTUC is concerned about the erosion of workers rights.
These
were legitimate concerns for unions, he added. Malaysian unions want
to use this (joint declaration) as a leverage to strengthen workers rights
here. And the AFL-CIO may want to use it to protect workers from job losses in
the U.S.
American unionists argue they are not just concerned
about job losses in the United States. It is not just Northern unions
trying to take jobs from Malaysia, AFL-CIO global economic specialist
Jeff Vogt told IPS. We want to make sure that trade between our two
countries is equitable to our workers.
For instance, Vogt argued
that there was no need for FTAs to demand TRIPS-plus, that is, to insist on intellectual
property rights that went beyond the World Trade Organisation (WTO) regime. Neither
was there a need for FTAs to grant excessive rights to investors.
Joining
forces with developing countries trade union movements to oppose FTAs gives
us more credibility in our advocacy in the U.S.s (and allows us) to say, look,
we are not being protectionist, he added.
The Kuala Lumpur declaration
observes that it is clear that the US-Malaysia FTA would be based on the
same failed model as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Over
the last 12 years, NAFTA has facilitated corporate mobility and flexibility but
has cost more than one million jobs and opportunities in the U.S. Critics say
it has kept U.S. wages low and undermined environmental and public health care
protection. In Mexico, workers real wages have remain flat or worsened while
inequality has widened, increasing the number of people in poverty.
US trade
unions and their Asian counterparts want trade agreements to include enforceable
provisions to protect workers rights, public services and the environment.
They complain that the Bush administration has not adequately addressed these
concerns in the FTAs they have negotiated.
In the Kuala Lumpur declaration,
the unions noted there was evidence that the Malaysian government continues to
oppose any labour protection in FTA, based on a misguided notion that
that achieving economic growth and international competitiveness must be at the
expense of core labour rights.
Unionists point out that FTAs
typically rely on weak national laws while provisions for enforcement of labour
standards, dispute resolution and action against violators of workers right
are weak, ineffective and difficult. In contrast, the FTAs tend to provide excessive
protection for multinational corporate investment and profits.
The MTUC
and the AFL-CIO said they were also deeply concerned with the lack of transparency
and the governments failure to consult trade unions and civil society organisations.
Malaysian
unionists, meanwhile, are also worried about a public submission for the FTA negotiations
made by the American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) and the U.S. Chamber
of Commerce. The two bodies had argued that while it is important
to protect the rights of workers, Malaysias current employment laws are
too restrictive and unbalanced against companies, thus making it very difficult
for employers to terminate under-performing employees.
The two
bodies added that they would like to see Malaysias domestic labour laws
and its Industrial Relations Court reviewed to take into greater consideration
the needs of employers and the ability of companies to remain competitive and
productive through proper management of their workforces.
Critics
saw these comments as a thinly disguised desire to make it a lot easier to lay
off workers, as is the case in the U.S. Unionists are also deeply concerned that
more secure jobs would be replaced with casual and irregular work under an FTA.
The
most important area we (Malaysian unionists) are concerned about is security of
tenure the outsourcing of jobs and the subcontracting of labour,
says K Somasundram, an MTUC official who participated in the discussions with
the AFL-CIO.
It is already happening in the banking sector,
with the outsourcing of back-office services, he told IPS. Unions
are concerned because they feel that this is one of the ways of busting unions
as they will then be outside the scope of representation.
The
executive council of the AFL-CIO in a statement in November has proposed a new
approach to make trade more fair and beneficial for all workers. It wants a slowdown
in President George W. Bushs rush to negotiate new bilateral free trade
agreements and a review of all current agreements. It is also calling for a reform
of the current trade regime to create a more just global economy, one
that works for working families and not just to boost the profits and power of
multinational corporations. (END/2007)
Source: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=36243
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