Bring in investors who respect workers’ rights, unionist tells the Gov’t

THE Government, both federal and state, should be firm in its stand in only allowing quality foreign investors to come to Malaysia so that they will protect workers’ rights, urged a union leader.  

“Both federal and state governments must have the political will to ensure investors who come to the country prioritise local employees’ welfare and not engrossed on profits alone.  

“After over 60 years of Independence, we must ensure Malaysian workers’ interest are taken care of and look into a win-win situation, instead of employers having the upper hand all the time,” Union Network International-Malaysia Labour Centre (UNI-MLC) president Datuk Mohamed Shafie BP Mammal said, in a statement.  

Yesterday, the National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) urged the Penang state government to be wary of the notoriety of HSBC Bank Malaysia Bhd (HSBC) as it attempts to defend itself in relation to the trade union body urging the state government to cease dealings with the global bank. 

Given that HSBC has committed many acts that amount to betrayal of trust that cannot be condoned, NUBE’s secretary-general J Solomon said he was surprised as to why the Malaysian Governments were still condoning the former’s action. 

He described HSBC’s claim that it would continue to work with all trade unions, including NUBE, to understand if there were further avenues to support bank employees as “utter hypocrisy”. 

“This is a misrepresentation when there is a long list of cheating and exploitation (cases) at international courts as well as disputes which the bank has been avoiding to engage trade union by abusing their absolute power,” Solomon was reported as saying.  

Touching on HSBC, Shafie said the international bank seems to have no respect for Malaysian workers by ignoring the collective agreement (CA) and laid off workers last year, when COVID-19 was still raging.  

He alleged that HSBC had laid off employees numerous times under the guise of Voluntary Separation Scheme (VSS) and Mutual Separation Scheme (MSS) since 2017, rejecting any negotiations with workers who had refused the schemes.   

Datuk Mohamed Shafie BP Mammal

Review on workers’ protection laws  

“It shows that the bank is going against labour conventions and standards set by the International Labor Organization (ILO),” Shafie claimed.  

What is upsetting, he added, was that the authorities have yet to act on the matter.  

“Of course, there are also employers who care for their staffers like AEON Malaysia, where they had raised their workers’ minimum wage to RM1,500 on their own accord, despite the Government only planning to implement it by end of the year,” Shafie noted.  

With that, the veteran unionist urged the Government to enact zero tolerance policies against workers’ exploitation, be it local or migrant workers.  

This should include, he mentioned, a review on the Code of Conduct for Industrial Harmony. It should enact provisions on job security, address forced labour issues and improve relations between workers and employers.  

“And this should start with the Penang state government, by cancelling the memorandum of understanding signed between InvestPenang and HSBC,” Shafie remarked. – Feb 15, 2022.  

Subscribe and get top news delivered to your Inbox everyday for FREE