The Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC), the country’s largest union, today made a call to employers to heed the King’s royal address yesterday when he reminded employers to preserve jobs and protect the welfare of workers.
The King has told employers not to lay off their workers arbitrarily in facing the economic downturn due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“His Majesty’s message that all quarters should be willing to make sacrifices to ease the burden of the rakyat and save the country’s economy will hopefully strike a chord with employers in ensuring the livelihood of millions of workers,” said MTUC’s secretary-general J Soloman in a statement.
He added that those companies that had received government aid through various stimulus packages should not shirk from their responsibility towards their workers.
“MTUC feels that businessmen who receive public funds to help them to keep afloat but who disregard the Yang diPertuan Agong’s advice are committing a betrayal of public trust and treason against the King,” added Soloman.
Soloman also said the government should take a cue from Hong Kong authorities in imposing cash penalties on employers who sack workers despite being given wage subsidies.
Similar to Malaysia, Hong Kong was spending large sums of aid to provide wage subsidies of 50% of its companies to deal with the economic impact of Covid-19.
In order to avail themselves of the first tranche of the wage subsidy in three to four weeks, Hong Kong employers must pledge that the number of employees on payroll between June and August is not fewer than those in March, including those on unpaid leave. The money received by employers must all go to the employees.
Soloman added that this was a good carrot-and-stick system which should also be implemented in Malaysia, especially as more than 200,000 employers have applied for wage subsidies for 1.7 million workers under the Employees’ Insurance Scheme. However, there is little oversight and transparency in ensuring the funds are used solely for the benefit of workers and that companies enjoying the subsidies will not lay off their workers or force them to take pay cuts.
Soloman also said that the MTUC wants the government to introduce the Emergency Employment Regulations (EER) which will bar employers from retrenching their staff for a specific period, following the Covid-19 pandemic. – May 19, 2020
