Don’t stop at workers’ housing in addressing labour issues, govt told

 

A scene from one of several raids enforcement officers have made against employers suspected of violating rules on the housing of workers. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: A human rights activist has called for wide ranging labour reforms, saying efforts to address housing for foreign workers should only be the start.

Adrian Pereira, the executive director of the North-South Initiative, said longstanding issues such as low minimum wage, forced labour and human trafficking had been studied and debated but little had materialised in the way of real solutions.

Speaking to FMT, he said the issue of overcrowded and ill-maintained workers quarters should be the “entry point” for further reforms to address age-old issues over the treatment of migrant workers.

In a move to address Covid-19 outbreaks among migrant workers during the pandemic, the government enforced new minimum standards to provide more space and better facilities in workers’ housing.

Adrian Pereira.

“It doesn’t have to come from the government,” Pereira said. “These companies have the money. They can invest in their own internal reforms, but we aren’t seeing that.”

Referring to increased scrutiny of glove and palm oil companies for their labour practices after numerous import bans by the US, he said: “It should not take Uncle Sam pointing a stick at companies for them to change.”

He alleged that nothing had come out of the numerous meetings he had been asked to attend on issues affecting migrant labour.

“We have done the studies and we have the data,” he said. “We have the Council for Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants under the home ministry. We have NGOs and think tanks. But still, we have the same issues cropping up time and time again.”

He said there was no silver bullet and it was up to decision makers at all levels to look at what had worked abroad and at the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) indicators for labour standards and forced labour and then make the necessary adjustments.

“It’s not that issues are being forgotten, but for whatever reason, the enforcement we are seeing locally is not on par with international standards,” he said.

“It’s not that Malaysia isn’t as smart as the US or ILO. We just aren’t doing things the right way.” - FMT