Reject amendments to labour laws, MTUC urges senators

MTUC president Abdul Halim Mansor says the government reneged on its promise to let the National Labour Advisory Council vet the labour law amendments.

PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) today urged the Dewan Negara to reject all eight amendments to the Industrial Relations Act 1967 passed by the Lower House on Monday, saying they were tabled without the endorsement of the labour and employers’ groups.

MTUC president Abdul Halim Mansor said Human Resources Minister M Kula Segaran did not obtain consensus on the amendments from the National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC) when tabling the proposals in the Dewan Rakyat.

Apart from the human resources ministry, he said, the MTUC and the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) are the permanent constituents of the NLAC. The MTUC represents 15 million workers in the country.

“The bill was rushed through the Dewan Rakyat and MPs may have not been aware of Kula Segaran’s negligent action at his ministry’s level when they passed the amendments.

“We now hope the Upper House (Dewan Negara) will do the right thing by sending this bill back to the NLAC so that it can be discussed and finalised.

“We have sent our memorandum on this matter to all 65 senators, urging them to withhold approval of the amendments and to obtain the endorsement of the NLAC as was agreed by the minister,” he said in a statement.

Halim accused Kula of reneging on his promise to give the NLAC full mandate to scrutinise and finalise amendments to the labour laws before they were presented for approval by the government and Parliament.

“His action also contradicts the International Labour Organisation’s Convention 144 on tripartite consultation which Malaysia ratified in 2002,” he said.

He said that despite MTUC’s reminders, Kula did not convene a meeting of the NLAC to discuss the amendments.

“Instead, on Sept 26, we were informed that the minister had unilaterally submitted proposed amendments to the three labour laws to the Attorney-General’s Chambers for approval,” he said.

The three main laws are the Industrial Relations Act 1967, the Trade Unions Act 1959 and the Employment Act 1955.

“Even more shocking is that the AG Chambers took only 10 days to approve the amendments to such important laws which contain hundreds of provisions and sections,” he said. - FMT