KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 3 — The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) can hold a peaceful protest today over controversial amendments to the Employment Act but Datuk Seri S. Subramaniam hopes the national labour centre is willing to hold talks over the issue.
The MTUC is to hold the protest this evening at 20 places across the country.
“I’ve said from the start that it is their right and in our country, we allow peaceful gatherings that follow regulations. So in that aspect, they will go ahead,” Subramaniam(picture), the human resources minister, told reporters today after the launch of the Malaysian-German conference on education and training here.
“In truth, there is no issue because we want the same thing, only our views are different,” he said.
He hopes discussions can take place after MTUC officials calm down from the protest.
The country’s main labour centre for the private sector has decided to picket nationwide today against amendments which it said were “a return to slavery” as they will give the “green light to investors to hire Malaysians as contract workers instead of permanent staff.”
However, Subramaniam said there was no issue as both parties share a common agenda.
“The reason is the same. We want to protect the workers, they also want worker protection, only interpretation varies,” he said.
“So if there’s understanding from both parties, then it’ll be easier,” he added.
He said “we will hold discussions on how we can achieve the same view on the issue” but did not specify when the meeting would be held.
“It’s a containing process, let them finish all this and calm down, then we’ll meet again,” he said.
The MTUC, an umbrella body comprising 390 labour unions with a total of 802,323 members, has said it is “non-partisan, but our battle will have to go on” against amendments to the Employment Act that were approved by Parliament on October 6.
Labour unions have accused the government of bringing back “slave-like” conditions with the amendments which, they said, erode protection for workers. One of the changes includes the registration of third-party labour suppliers.
Subramaniam has repeatedly defended the move as one that protects workers.
He insisted the government needs to register all third-party labour suppliers so that it can take action against any mistreatment of outsourced labour.
The MIC deputy president also said employers can take action against union members for getting involved in picketing against the amendments to the labour laws.
The MTUC had first protested against the amendments on October 3, drawing hundreds of workers to the gates of Parliament.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak tabled his Budget 2012 proposals earlier this month that provided cash handouts and an extra one per cent employers’ contribution to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) for those earning up to RM5,000 a month, which covers most of MTUC’s members.
However, critics point out that the extra EPF contribution will not be of help to most workers as the money is kept in the pension fund and cannot be used to cope with the rising cost of living. Inflation has spiked above three per cent this year.
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