An international labour rights group has criticised the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme for ignoring workers’ rights, including work environment and occupational safety issues.
This was after Malaysiakini reported several vulnerabilities in the scheme as well as loopholes in domestic laws.
Apolinar Tolentino, the Asia Pacific Regional Representative of the Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI), told Malaysiakini that the auditors of local and international timber products paid little attention to the rights of labourers.
This amounts to allowing certified timber companies to continue with their practices of forced labour and union harassment.
He noted that if a company is withholding migrant workers’ passports, forcing employees to work overtime or paying less than the minimum wage, the auditors should record these in their report and issue a major non-compliance warning.
“Auditors can either issue a temporary certification or don’t issue the certification at all.
“They should come back in six months or a year to check if this non-compliance has been attended to.
“But, to be honest, this thorough and observing due diligence audit process is rarely done,” Tolentino said.
He added that migrant workers’ passports and travel documents are commonly withheld by employers in the timber industry.
This is despite the constraining of workers’ mobility being considered one of the criteria of forced labour and thus violates the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention.
M’sian scheme should comply with requirements
According to Tolentino, the Chain of Custody standards of the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) states that the certified organisation shall address the social, health, safety and labour issues based on the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (1998).
The PEFC is a non-profit NGO that promotes sustainable forest management through independent third-party certification.
“Since the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS) is endorsed by the PEFC, MTCS should also adopt what PEFC requires, including the labour-related criteria.
“The principle of free, prior and informed consent is supported by the ILO convention.
“The auditors should also ensure the company meets the social requirements, including respecting the rights of workers, trade unions and the Orang Asli land rights,” he stressed.
One of the BWI Malaysian representatives, Fatimah Mohamad, represents BWI on the PEFC Board.
Tolentino said the certified companies should at least be neutral and allow their workers to form unions when the latter decided to do so, based on PEFC standards.
“However, some companies are actually harassing and threatening workers, especially the migrants, to send them home if they join a union.
“Some companies interfere with union procedures, such as scheduling a company outing during union voting day or not allowing workers to take time off for voting,” Tolentino claimed.
Why are unions not engaged?
He further questioned whether auditors checked if the timber companies established occupational safety and health committees and held related programmes in accordance with ILO conventions.
“The problem in Malaysia is that the auditors rarely probe deeply, or not at all, into the working conditions and environment of these workers,” he said.
Besides, Tolentino asked, why don’t the auditors consult with workers or union representatives when conducting regular auditing processes for forestry companies?
“Either deliberately or otherwise, they (the auditors) don’t talk to workers or union representatives at all.
“If you certify a company without thoroughly probing its industrial policy and actual practices on workers and trade union rights, you may endorse a company with a bad record,” he stressed.
Second-most dangerous occupation
In March, Tolentino was invited to speak at a forum organised by the Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC), the operator of the MTCS.
However, he was only able to screen a recorded video, since he was not in Kuala Lumpur then.
In the video, he called for the forest certification body to pay attention to labour and union rights concerns.
Tolentino noted that Malaysia was ranked at Tier 3 - the worst level - in the United States Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report due to forced labour issues.
He also said data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and ILO also show that the forestry sector is the second-most dangerous occupation, next to being a soldier.
Hence, Tolentino hopes that the MTCS can be a useful tool in promoting worker and trade union rights.
“With more than 20,000 chain-of-custody certificate holders, it is critical for BWI affiliates to have access to worksites and gain information on working conditions.
“Due to the high rate of informal work in the sector and the remoteness of the worksites, union representatives should be allowed to inform the workers about their rights, by all means with as little interference to their work as possible.
“If the worksite is not a suitable place, the management and union representatives shall, in cooperation, decide a suitable time and place for this session,” he proposed at the forum.
BWI-affiliated trade union organisations in Malaysia include the Timber Employees Union Peninsular Malaysia and the Sabah Timber Employees Union. - Mkini
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