Union laws ‘sufficient’

PUTRAJAYA: Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam waved away a proposal by the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) to ease the forming of unions by amending the Trade Unions Act.

“I don’t think the Act needs to be amended. There is nothing to prevent workers from joining unions. The laws are sufficient,” Subramaniam told The Malay Mail after witnessing a MoU signing between the Malaysia Skills Department and several international accreditation bodies in Putrajaya yesterday.

In addition, the ministry’s chief secretary Datuk Seri Zainal Rahim Seman said:

“There is a freedom of association.” He said workers were free to form unions based on their fields of employment and that the ministry was simply a facilitator.

On Feb 12, it was reported only nine per cent of Malay-sia’s 11 million workers were unionised, a figure far below that of nations like Singapore, Japan and the United Kingom, where the figures stood at 18 per cent, 21 per cent and 29 per cent respectively.

A. Balasubramaniam, the MTUC vice-president, had said the percentage in Malaysia had never increased from the nine per cent for the past few decades due to challenges in forming unions.

He warned the number of workers joining trade unions was decreasing despite a steady rise in population and job opportunities.

“The ministry needs to promote unions to avert the decline in the number of union members,” Balasubramaniam said.

He had suggested workers be allowed to form an auto union without the permission of their employer after a company has more than “a number of workers”.

“Without trade unions, they (employers) have control over workers. Workers can’t fight back to safeguard their rights. There are many issues like salary, minimum wage ... preference for foreign workers is just the tip of the iceberg,” he added.

In scenarios where unions were fully controlled by employers holding important union positions because the top office bearers are the management, Balasubramaniam said a union’s effectiveness declined even if membership increased.

He said rather than considering workers and unions as the enemy, employers should treat them like their partners in the development of their companies.