No more excuse to delay amendments of Sabah and Sarawak Labour Ordinance — Labour bodies
KOTA KINABALU: The Labour Law Reform Coalition (LLRC) and Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) Sabah call on the federal government and the Sabah state government to amend the Sabah and Sarawak Labour Ordinance (SLO) immediately.
They said more excuse should be given to delay the amendment! Workers are losing up to 200 million ringgit each year!
The two labour organisations stressed that the Employment Act amendment in Peninsular Malaysia was fully enforced on 1 January 2023, but disappointingly until today the SLO is still not on the legislative agenda, which is unfair for Sabah and Sarawak workers at all.
Speaking at a joint LLRCMTUC Sabah meeting on Sabah & Sarawak Labour Ordinance and Trade Union Act amendments on April 27 in Kota Kinablu, LLRC President Mohd Jafar Abdul Majid said:
“I wish to remind elected representatives that they have huge responsibility in improving workers’ well-being. Sabah and Sarawak workers should have enjoyed 45 hours of work and earned higher overtime if EA and SLO were implemented together on 15 months ago. Please concentrate your efforts to increase workers’ benefit rather than engaging in endless political bickering that does not help workers.”
MTUC Sabah secretary Engrit Liaw said: “We see politicians are busy with elections after elections, they made a lot of promises to workers but failed to deliver after they assumed to power. Can you focus your effort to ensure the rights of Sabah and Sarawak workers are on par with Peninsular Malaysia workers? This is blatant violation of nondiscrimination principle in the Federal Constitution!”
On 1 November 2023, the Deputy Minister of Human Resources Datuk Mustapha Sakmud said the amendment bill was postponed and being reviewed by the AttorneyGeneral. In March 2024, the Parliament again failed to include SLO amendment in the legislative agenda.