INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION (ILO) MALAYSIA MOHD KHAIRI B MAN

Transcription

1 INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION (ILO) MALAYSIA MOHD KHAIRI B MAN 4 th 7 th AUG 2014 A PROMOTING SOUND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AND COLLECTIVE BARGAINING IN MNEs BANGKOK, THAILAND Page 1 of 5

2 GENERAL MULTI-ETHNIC PEOPLE OF MALAYSIA Malaysia's population is 28.3 million, of which 91.8 percent and 8.2 percent of non-citizen nationals. 67.4% are indigenous people, where 56.4% of Malay Bumiputera and 11% of Other Bumiputera. Others are composed of indigenous Orang Asli, Siam, Eurasians, Baba and Nyonya (Peranakan), and other indigenous minority of Peninsular Malaysia, while it is known as the indigenous people of Sabah and Sarawak in East Malaysia Bumiputera. Approximately 24.6% of Malaysia's population is Chinese. Malaysian Chinese community made up of Foochow, Hainanese, Henghua, Hokkien, Cantonese, Hakka, Teochewdan others. Malaysian Indian community covers 7.3% of the population of Malaysia consists of Tamils, which is Malaysia's largest Indian, Malayali people, Sikh, Telugu and others. While other people, there were 0.7% are persons of Asian Other Nations, and other World Nations granted citizenship under certain conditions. RELIGION Islam is the official religion in Malaysia, practiced by 61.3%. The rest are of other religions professed people of Malaysia are Buddhists (19.8%), Christians (9.2%), Hinduism (6.3%), Other religions (1.7%) and no religion or religion is not known is 1.7%. Other religions, including the Chinese Religion, Sikhism, Judaism, and others. TRADE UNION IN MALAYSIA Year Union Membership Private Sector Government Statutory body , , , SOUND PROMOTING INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS The government of Malaysia ratified C.98 concerning the right to collective bargaining but hasn t ratified C.87 concerning freedom of association. MTUC feels many provision of labor laws, i.e the Employment Act, the Industrial Relations Act, and the Trade Union Act, severely restrict labor rights and trade union rights in workplaces, and governments labor policies obstruct the workers freedom of Association and the employers deny collective bargaining. Anti-union policies and union busting tactics have been practiced, undermining the voice and Page 2 of 5

3 representation of the unions. To further erode trade unions from exercising our rights the government through its transformation programs by spearheading the New Economic Model is making continuous amendments to all Employments laws. This is the systematic trade union busting. This is very important for creating discussion and respectful communication harmony as it is preserved in the Constitution of Malaysia. Article 8 of the Malaysian constitutional mention - namely FREEDOM FOUNDATION; (1) All persons are equal in the sight of the law and entitled to equal protection legally, (2) Except as expressly authorized by this Constitution, there shall be no discrimination against citizens on the ground only of religion, race, descent, place of birth or gender in any law or in the appointment to any office or employment under a public authority or in the administration of any law relating to the acquisition, relating to the establishment or conduct of any trade, business, profession, vocation or employment. Government created departments in Malaysia for the purpose of promoting harmonious relations maintained. Regulations relating to the employee is the Department of Labor, includes work act 1955, Sabah & Sarawak Labor Ordinance, Minimum Wages Council Act (2011). Law relating to the right. Trade Unions Act 1959 and Industrial Relations Act Government should carefully study the impact of multinational enterprises on employment in different industrial sectors. Government and the multinational enterprises themselves, in all countries should take appropriate measures to address the employment and labor market impact of multinational operations. Same multinational enterprises, through active manpower planning, should endeavor to provide stable employment for their employees and shall comply with the obligations freely negotiated on employment stability and social security. Given the flexibility of multinational enterprises may have, they should seek to play a leading role in promoting job security, especially in countries where the termination of operations is likely to accentuate long-term unemployment. COLLECTIVE BARGAINING Collective agreement is defined under section 2 of the Act LIAISON Enterprises Act 1967 (IRA) Written agreement made between two parties, namely the employer or union employers and unions related to the terms and conditions of employment and the relationship between the two parties. Page 3 of 5

4 Collective agreement or collective agreement (CBA) is a special commercial agreement, usually as one consultation "collectively" between the company and unions. Collective agreements usually set wages, hours of work, promotion, annual leave, compassionate leave, public holidays and other jobs as well as procedures for handling disputes that arise. Order by legislation; a) Section 13 (1) of the IRA - Process Collective bargaining proposals on employers b) Section 13 (4) IRA - The employer must respond within 14 days. If agreed the process of negotiations commence within 30 days. c) Section 18 (1) IRA - If the employer refuses to negotiate or fail to give answer, a dispute exists and the union may report to the Director General of Industrial Relations Department (IRD). d) Pursuant to section 26 (1) of the IRA or 26 (2), the Minister of Human Resources may refer the dispute to the Industrial court for arbitration. PROBLEMS FACED BY THE UNION In Malaysia, the union is also facing issues in dispute with the employer. Many leaders suspended their work solely in discharging its duties as an officer of the union. Employers look for a variety of offenses to convict union officials. Convention 87 on Freedom of Association FOA), Malaysia has remained reluctant up to now to ratify convention 87 and amend the provisions of the Trade Union Act Accordingly. The law and practices severely the right to organize. Trade unions are fragmented and government s policies obstruct and often deny the workers freedom of association. Although Malaysia has ratified convention 98 on right to collective bargaining the cumbersome process put in place to secure recognition from employers, which is a requirement to collective bargaining, most workers are effectively denied the right to collective bargaining. Union busting; Employers don t like unions Investor don t like unions New unions that has been registered by the minister is challenge for the company Dismissal of union leaders Promote in house unions Page 4 of 5

5 The rights to form unions are also opposed by the employer. Various threats made to ensure that the union is not established. In the OECD guidelines for MNCs, the employer shall respect the right of workers to form unions or participate in the union, respect for constructive negotiations and collective claims. Insertion of foreign workers is also an advantage to the employer to not hire local workers and some of them are not allowed to join unions because of threatened and so on. Thank you, MOHD KHAIRI B MAN MALAYSIAN TRADES UNION CONGRESS, (MTUC) MALAYSIA Page 5 of 5