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?
KEMAMAN: The implementation of the 2016 Minimum Wages Order (MWO) in July is expected to lure more locals to grab employment opportunities that have been enjoyed by about 1.9 million registered foreign workers all this while.
Deputy Human Resource Minister Ismail Abd Muttalib hoped the MWO would attract more local youth to seek employment in industries categorised as 3D – dangerous, dirty and difficult, currently taken up mostly by foreign workers.
“Nonetheless, with the implementation of the new minimum wage, we will slowly encourage local youths to enter these industries and improve their skills to become skilled workers.
“This is in line with the ministry’s target to have 35% per cent local workers becoming skilled workers by 2020. We have so far achieved 28 per cent,” he said.
He was speaking to reporters after opening the 2016 World Day for Safety and Health at the Workplace here yesterday which was attended by the president of the Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services, Azih Muda.
On another matter, Ismail said the accident rate involving workers going to and from work showed a slight increase of 554 cases last year compared to 2014.
He said there were 28,591 cases of accidents involving commuting workers recorded last year compared to 28,037 cases in 2014.
The celebration of the 2016 World Day for Safety and Health at the Workplace organised by the National Council of Occupational Safety and Health (NCOSH) with the cooperation of the Terengganu Manpower Department was attended by 300 workers and employers from various government agencies and the private sector nationwide.
– BERNAMA
Source: Free Malaysia Today
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