Senate Council takes MTUC to task, president denies support to oppose bill

The National Senate Council has taken the Malaysian Trade Union Council to task for having allegedly misrepresented the outcome of their meeting surrounding the Labour Laws Reform Bill which is up for debate next week.

MTUC yesterday issued a statement which highlighted their efforts to lobby against the bill, which also quoted National Senate Council president Khairudin Abdul Samad (photo, above).

Khairudin, however, today said that he was never contacted for the quotes, which had also allegedly misrepresented the National Senate Council's stand.

"I was shocked to read media reports that quoted me as having said this and that, without being contacted beforehand.

"No one had contacted me, but I read in the reports that I had said this and that," said Khairudin, who also took a swipe at media outlets that failed to verify his statements as quoted by MTUC.

"I would like to strongly deny this... All my colleagues here were there during the meeting, and we never said that we agreed with MTUC.

"I only said that we will help to debate the points they raised...," said Khairudin at a joint press conference in parliament with other National Senate Council office bearers.

National Senate Council deputy president Razali Ismail said MTUC had created a perception that it has received support to vote against the bill.

"It looks like MTUC is using the Senate Council to go against the government. That is not right," he said.

Razali said the council is open to meet with any parties and the issue of voting for or against a bill should not arise.

The MTUC delegation, led by president Abdul Halim Mansor and secretary-general J Solomon, had on Monday met with Khairudin and other Senate Council members to discuss their objections to the Law Reforms Bill.

During the meeting, they reportedly submitted a detailed report on some of the proposed changes and called for it to be resubmitted to the National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC) for review before being tabled again at the next sitting of Parliament.

MTUC later quoted Khairuddin as purportedly saying the Senate Council had agreed to meet on the premise that there were indeed certain provisions which may prove detrimental to the industrial harmony currently enjoyed by workers.

'Meeting with MTUC Sarawak, Sabah'

Khairudin, meanwhile, said that the Senate Council has also accepted a request to meet with MTUC Sabah and Sarawak chapters on Dec 16 in parliament.

This follows what appears to be an escalating row within the MTUC ranks, with the two chapters throwing their support behind the proposed amendments to the Industrial Relations Act 1967. - Mkini