A COALITION of unions urged the Government to defer the second reading of the amendment to the Trade Unions Act 1959, claiming it had clauses that can negatively impact unions in Malaysia.
“I urge the Government to tweak the amendments so that it would comply with Malaysia’s Regulation Impact Analysis (RIA) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 144.
“This is why it is important to have regular dialogue with unions before such amendments are tabled,” Coalition Against Multiplicity of Unions (CAMU) chairman Zulfakar Mohamed said, in a statement.
On March 24, the Government tabled three Bill to address issues pertaining to employment for the first reading.
They were the Trade Unions (Amendment) Bill 2022, the Employees Social Security (Amendment) Bill 2022 and the Employment Insurance System (Amendment) Bill 2022.
The Trade Unions (Amendment) Bill 2022, among others, seeks to amend the Trade Unions Act 1959 to remove restrictions on the formation of trade unions based on certain establishments or similarities in trade, occupation or industry to allow for the diversity of trade unions.
Touching on the matter, Zulfakar said that the amendment would allow “multiplicity of unions”, which was detrimental to workers’ rights.
Among the problems that “multiplicity of unions” would create are as follows:
- Multiplicity of unions will erode workers’ solidarity
- The united voice of union members will get diluted
- “Multiplicity of unions” will create inter union rivalry at the workplace
- It will trigger instability, disharmony and division at the workplace
- “Pinching” of members among unions will occur.
- Erode the socio-economic and rights of the workers
- Union busting by employers will increase
- “Puppet unions” will be created
- Trade unions will be at the mercy of the Government
Zulfakar added that due to the issues mentioned above, workers will find their wages suppressed in the long run, with income inequality widening due to inferior or delayed Collective Agreement (CA).
“We are also upset that the Human Resources Ministry (MOHR) had failed to convene the National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC) to have a formal and thorough dialogue with unions for more than two years.
“The unions, being representatives of the workers, are important stakeholders in all matters concerning labour policies. Failing to consult them is in breach of ILO Convention 144.
“And the Government had disregarded its own RIA issued on July 15, 2013, which stipulates that any proposed new regulation or changes to regulation will involve consultation with relevant stakeholders,” he stressed.
On that note, Zulfakar reminded the Government that the Federal Court itself had issued a verdict against the “multiplicity of unions” as it would detrimental to industrial harmony.
“In the case of Kesatuan PekerjaPekerja Bukan Eksekutif Maybank Bhd v Kesatuan Kebangsaan Pekerja-Pekerja Bank & Anor [2018], the apex court mentioned that the MOHR director general should have realised that ‘multiplicity of trade unions’ in respect of the same occupation would not be in the best interest of industrial harmony,” he remarked. – June 12, 2022
