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?
Its secretary-general G. Rajasekaran said the matter should
come under the purview of the Human Resources Ministry.
<P>He said the MTUC
received hundreds of complaints every month relating to non-payment of wages,
breach of contract in paying less than the contracted wages and violation of the
provisions of the Employment Act relating to overtime, working hours, paid sick
leave, annual leave and public holidays.</P><P>"All these issues come under
the purview of the Labour Department under the Human Resources Ministry,"
he said.</P><P>He said it also received cases of workers terminated after being
deprived of their wages for up to a year.</P><P>"The employers then notify
the Immigration department, who promptly cancel the workers’ work permit
and declare them illegals.</P><P>"Immigration officers turn a deaf year to
workers’ complaints of wages owed to them," he added.</P><P>He said
the MTUC felt that the Human Resources Ministry should have a greater say in the
matter like verifying employers’ application and their needs.</P><P>"We
believe the Human Resources Ministry has reliable statistics on manpower needs
and availability of Malaysian workers.</P><P>"This is essential to ensure
that the government does not flood the country with migrant workers while Malaysians
are sidelined," Rajasekaran said.</P><P>He said there were also contradictory
conditions imposed by the Home Affairs Ministry.</P><P>"The Human Resources
Ministry has repeatedly stated that migrant workers be allowed to join trade unions
whereas the Home Affairs Ministry continues to ban migrants from joining unions
as a condition of the work permit," Rajasekaran said.</P><P>Human Resources
Minister Datuk Seri Dr Fong Chan Onn has come out strongly against a Bill proposed
by the Home Affairs Ministry.</P><P><I>Source: http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/nst/Saturday/National/20070224100011/Article/local1_html</I>
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