STOP burdening the employers and do your part to stem the rise of COVID-19 among migrant workers, UNI-Malaysia Labour Centre (UNI-MLC) told the Government.
“It’s not fair for the Government to force employers to pay for the COVID-19 tests. The Government should chip in as well.
“The businesses are paying a lot in taxes to the Government. If you want to make such decisions, get feedback from the employers’ group first,” its president Datuk Mohamed Shafie BP Mammal told FocusM.
Last month, Senior Minister (Security) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced that employers will have to conduct COVID-19 screening tests for migrant workers.
“The employers will have to bear the costs of managing the stations and centres, as well as worker’s food and board. Employers will have to prepare transport to ferry the workers from the stations and centres and also bear the cost of the employees’ COVID-19 screenings.
“If a worker tests positive using the Antigen rapid test kit (RTK-Ag) and has no symptoms, the worker can be placed in the workers’ dormitory prepared by employers, as long as he is isolated from workers who tested negative using the RTK-Ag,” the Bera MP was reported saying.
Training his guns against the Government, Shafie said people should understand that businesses are also struggling to stay afloat as the economy is ravaged by the pandemic situation.
“Sometimes, the Government thinks they can say and do whatever they want. However, we must remember that every action will lead to some consequences.
“What if the employers’ eventually pass the COVID-19 testing cost to the workers. It will definitely affect their remuneration in the future,” he opined.
Shafie added: “When coming up with policies, always learn to balance priorities. Why not the Government does its social responsibility exercise by bearing the cost, using the tax money collected?”
On another note, Shafie said that the Government should identify which group is getting affected by the COVID-19 pandemic; either the legal migrant workers of the illegal ones.
“If you find the illegal migrant workers are the ones affected, do the COVID-19 tests on them.
“Of course, you also need to penalise employers who hire illegal migrant workers but that is secondary for now. Identify those who are affected the most and focus the testing on them,” he added. – Dec 26, 2020.
