Locals not affected by repeal of Workmen’s Compensation Act

KULIM: Local employees will not be affected by the abolition of the Workmen’s Compensation Act 1952, said Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran.

He said abolition of the law would not affect local workers.

“l Make sure local workers will not get less (than what they are getting now), anything have any shortage, but will get more from what they will be doing,” he told reporters during a working visit to the Kulim Advanced Technology Training Center (Adtec) here yesterday.

He said the abolition of the act was to safeguard the welfare of foreign working in the country in terms of insurance coverage, as well as to show that government did not discriminate them.

The move, he said, was also in line with the Equality of Treatment (Accident Compensation) Convention 1925 (No. 19) and the Conference committee on the Application of Standards under the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

Kulasegaran said unlike local workers, foreign workers were protected under the Social Security Organisation (Socso) and the government could take action against employers that did not subscribe for their employees.

“For instance, recently representatives from the Japanese government met me and requested for our people to work there because their population is getting older. So, we must make sure our people who go there (Japan) to work are covered by insurance.

“It does not want incidence like in Bukit Kukus to happen where it involved many foreign workers. Those killed get nothing (compensation), which is not fair,” he said referring to the landslide at Bukit Kukus, Paya Terubong, Penang, last October that killed nine people.

Meanwhile, on his visit to Adtec, Kulasegaran said efforts should be made to promote the centre to get more young people to take up Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).

He said the marketability of TVET graduates was high and the public stigma towards vocational graduates had changed.

“Many young people are unemployed because they have no skills, they need to enrol for skills training and we will look at these skills institutions so that they can attract more students,” he said.