MTUC expresses alarm over increase in foreign labour

 

A sharp increase in foreign labour is causing concern to the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC).

This comes after the Human Resources Ministry approved a total of 995,396 employment quotas for foreign workers from various sectors as of March 14.

In a statement, MTUC secretary-general Kamarul Baharin Mansor said that not only does this high volume of intake increase the country’s dependency on the migrant workforce, but may also lead to mismanagement and trigger forced labour issues.

“This number is rather alarming for MTUC as from this, we can see that our dependence on migrant workers is nowhere near the point of reducing.

“We are deeply concerned about how we are going to manage the almost a million additional workers on top of the existing few million documented and undocumented workers while we are still combatting force labour issues related to existing migrant workers,” he said.

Temporary measure

Kamarul (above) pointed out that the dependency on migrant workers undoubtedly affected employment opportunities for local workers.

However, he placed trust in Human Resources Minister V Sivakumar that this was merely a temporary measure to support the local economy.

On March 18, Sivakumar announced that the quota application and approval for foreign workers, including through the Foreign Worker Employment Relaxation Plan was postponed until further notice.

The plan, implemented on Jan 17, covers the manufacturing, construction, plantations, agriculture, and services (restaurants only) sectors and sub-sectors.

Under the plan, employers can hire migrant workers from 15 countries without adhering to employment and quota conditions.

Sivakumar previously told the Dewan Rakyat that the reliance on migrant labour in the country was due to a lack of interest by local workers, but assured that it was only a temporary solution. - Mkini