Malaysian Trade Union Congress
3RD TRIENNIAL
DELEGATES CONFERENCE
17 AUGUST 2007
LUNDU, SARAWAK
RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED
1
REQUEST FOR
EXEMPTION TO SLO BY STA
1. We
note that the Sarawak Timber Association has requested for to exempt
all workers engaged in Forestry Undertakings from certain provisions
of the Amended Sarawak Labour Ordinance as follows;
·
S11 - Guaranteed Week
·
S104 – Holidays
·
S
105 - Hours of Work
·
S105A – Shift Work
·
S105B – Rest Day
·
S105C – Work on Rest Day
·
S105D - Annual leave,
2.
MTUC believe that the STA’s arguments that the sections were
not practical to be implemented is nothing more than a cloak to hide
the real agenda- i.e. to deny their workers basic rights guaranteed
by the amended SLO.
3.
Certainly we fail to see how it can be impractical to
implement all the said sections in a plywood factory in an
industrial estate in Demak Laut, Kemena, Lanang or Baram.
4.
Their argument that there are certain entrenched practices
and policies only goes to show that they are unwilling to change
these entrenched practices that has served the interests of
employers, not workers.
5.
In REALITY all STA wants is to continue to deny all workers
in the timber industry fundamental rights to:
·
Public holidays,
·
Half an hour rest after 4 hours of work,
·
A
rest day after working continuous for 6 days,
·
Overtime payment for working in excess of normal hours of work
·
Even annual leave.
6.
Their rational that they need workers to work non stop from
sunlight till sundown without break and to work everyday for months
is the main reason why the workplace accidents and fatality rate of
the timber industry is the highest. Workers are literally paying
with their life and blood. Now they even want to deny payments like
annual leave and overtime.
7.
For daily paid workers they even want absolute right to
determine the number of days work. This means that they can ask a
daily paid worker to come only one day a week or if the weather is
good. So in a wet season, the worker cannot even earn any wages at
all. Business risk must rest with employers, not poor workers.
8.
This is totally irresponsible from an industry that has made
billions of ringgit and has spawned some of the country’s richest
billionaires. It is indicative of an industry that not only
exploits the state’s natural resources, but also its employees, who
are mainly from kampongs and longhouses.
9.
We failed to understand why timber employers, billionaires
and millionaires should be exempted from these provisions, when
other employers in other industries are willingly and gracefully
granting to their employees. It must be noted that in Sabah and West
Malaysia, timber employers there never seek exemption??
10.
Please take note that these basic and fundamental provisions
are legislated by Parliament with the aim to provide protection to
workers. The amendment was long overdue for 45 years and only just
implemented recently.
11.
Any Minister to even consider to such request can only mean
that he is only looking after the interest of employers in an
industry that has made billionaires while workers continue to pay
with the blood and their lives.
12.
We therefore call on the Minister to reject outright the
request and to order Labour Inspection officers into the timber
camps to inspect the real situation.
2 HONORARIUM
1.
We are pleased to note that despite difficult circumstances. The
Division managed numerous achievements during the term. We also note
that the financial position has improved and have managed in a very
prudent and professional way.
2.
We must recognised the need for our officials to be given a token
honorarium to compensate for their time and effort especially in
presenting cases at the Industrial Court. We note that all fees and
donations collected goes into the Division.
We believe that
such a move will lead to greater professionalism in managing the
Division.
3.
We hope that such honorarium also serve as an encourage incentive
for other union leaders to serve in the Division.
4.
We move that our officials be paid a one time honorarium as follows:
Chairman, Secretary & Treasurer $1000, Vice Chairman, Ast. Secretary
= $500.
3 TRADE UNION
REPRESENTATION
1.
We note with deep regret the rejection by the Director General of
Trade Unions on our affiliates to expand their membership scope to
representing employees in industries that have merged.
2.
We call on the DGTU to be more proactive and to allow Unions to
adapt to the rapidly changing business environment.
3.
We further call on the Minister of Human Resources to allow the
appeal by SBEU to be allowed to represent all employees in the
Financial Services Industries.
4 PROPOSED ALLUMINIUM
SMELTER PLANT AT SIMILAJAU
1.
We cautiously welcome the proposed USD2 Billion Alluminium Smelter
plant in Similajua which we believe will bring in foreign investment
and will accelerate the economic growth and generate jobs for
Sarawakians
2.
We are concern that such a huge project will have environmental
impact.
3.
We call on the government and the companies involved to ensure that
all environment concerns are fully addressed managed and any adverse
impact mitigated and proper monitoring mechanism be put in place.
4.
We also call on the government to ensure that the economic wealth
generated is equitably shared amongst all Sarawakians.
5 MTUC Sarawak welcomes
Salary Increase for Civil Servants
Call on Government to Introduce
Fair wage and COLA
1.
MTUC Sarawak warmly welcomes the announcement by the Prime Minister
that civil servants will get a salary increase of between 7.5 to 35%
for public sector employees. On top of that they get a 100% increase
in cost of living allowance. This we believe is one of the highest
ever.
2.
We regret that civil servants in Sarawak are not paid the COLA. This
is not fair as the Cost in Living in Sarawak has risen faster than
in Peninsula Sarawak. The existing Regional Allowance is to pay for
the difference in the cost of living. This difference is now much
higher in Sarawak
3.
We are confident that public sector employees will be motivated to
increase productivity and improve the delivery and service.
4.
We hope that businessmen and traders will not take advantage and
increase their prices, as this will further burden the private
sector employees whose salary, especially at the lower level has
lagged behind the public sector.
5.
The Sarawak Timber Association has confirmed that timber employees
earn as little as RM12.00 per day, which is way below the poverty
level in Sarawak.
6.
Top management and senior managers are in the private sector are
definitely better paid than government employees, but employees at
the lower level have lagged seriously behind. They don’t even get
any cost of living allowance.
7.
We deeply regret that the Government continue to ignore the plight
of private sector workers in Malaysia. We note with regret that the
Deputy Minister of Human Resources has made misleading statements to
Parliament in that a minimum wage would mean that domestic maids
will also be paid $900. Domestic maids are not covered by most
provisions of the Employment Act.
8.
GLCs and GLICs either control or have significant stake in major
companies in Bursa Malaysia. GLCs control the Plantation sector and
even owned and control 3 of the top 4 banks in the Country.
9.
We call on the Prime Minister, through its investment arms and
Government link Companies (GLCs) and Government Link Investment
Companies (GLICs) to also increase the salary of private sector
employees.
10.
We also call on the Prime Minister, who is also Minister of Finance
to ensure that private sector employees’ salary do not lagged behind
public sector, especially at the lower level.
RESOLUTION
6 RETIREMENT AGE
1.
We note that Malaysia has still the lowest retirement age of 55
years and amongst the highest life expectancy in the world up to 78
for women.
2.
Convention wisdom and emphirical evidence and studies have shown
overwhelming support for an increase in retirement age to address
the following issues.
·
Rapid Increase in the life expectancy. Decade by decade, life
expectancy for older people has risen at unprecedented rates. Rises
in life expectancy surely signal better health. Malaysia now has
life expectancy of almost 75 for women.
·
Reducing the cost of pension and burden on governments to provide
healthcare.
·
Increasing the overall productivity of the workforce
·
Ensuring adequate retirement savings when workers finally retire
3.
The only real concern is that increasing retirement age may deny
another younger person entry into the workforce. However the
government has always maintained we have almost full employment
anyway so this is not an issue.
4.
We respect the view that that the government and employers may
continue to pay salary for civil servants to stay in the service
without any commensurate /attendant output and efficiency from
them. This must be addressed whether retirement age is increased or
not. A worker may be unproductive or productivity whether he is 30,
50 54 or 56 years old.
5.
Physical strength clearly declines with age. So, too, do some
cognitive abilities. Older workers perform worse than younger ones
in tests of working memory and the ability to process complex new
information rapidly. However, declines in such capabilities are not
crucial for most jobs, especially as physically strenuous ones
become the exception in a service-based economy. What matters in
today's work place is the mix of skills, experience and character
that individuals bring to bear
6.
We view that older workers are generally as good as younger workers
and older employees show less absenteeism, lower turnover, fewer
accidents, higher job satisfaction and more positive work values
than younger workers.
7.
One reason why older workers are less adaptable is that the skills
they had learnt for their trades lost value as the economy shifted
away from industry to services. Because they had had less
opportunity for formal education, many lacked the foundations in
numeracy and literacy that would have allowed them to respond to the
new requirements of the jobs market. By contrast, post-war
generations, which have benefited from more formal education, should
prove more adaptable.
8.
MTUC also dispute the views that those who are retiring now have
sufficient retirement savings. EPF figures show that on average
members has less than $40,000 when they retire. This is hardly
enough when the life expectancy for Malaysian has risen to 75 for
women and 69 for men. RM40,000 will not be enough to live for 15
years.
Not before time, there has been a rude awakening. The message is
coming from pension providers: if you want to have a comfortable
retirement then you will have to work longer.
9.
As to the view that increasing retirement age will deny promotional
opportunities for younger employees, such views is only valid in the
old fashion human resources thinking that promotion should be based
on age and seniority. Promotion must be based on relevant skills
and competencies. In a rapid changing environment, experience is
only useful if it is relevant experience.
10.
The alternative of engaging retirees on year-to-year contract is
limited to high-ranking officials only. This in itself actually
denies those immediately below them promotion opportunities.
Example. Director of a Department is 56 and retires this year. His
deputy is 54, retires in two years. So if the Government extends
the contract the contract of the director for another two years. The
Deputy would have retired by then, without the chance to be promoted
to Director.
11.
MTUC Sarawak therefore calls on the government to increase the
Retirement age to 60 years.
12.
We further call on the Government to increase the rate of
contribution to the Employees Fund to 20% for employers and 15 % for
employees to ensure that workers have adequate savings when they
retire |