‘Technical panel to look into amendments to labour laws’
KUCHING: A technical committee will be formed jointly by the federal Ministry of Human Resources and Chief Minister’s Office to look into technical matters pertaining to the amended and proposed amendment to the labour law.
Human Resources Minister M Kulasegaran said Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg had agreed to look into the amendments of nine Acts pertaining to labour favourably and had even suggested that a technical committee be formed.
He agreed with the suggestion and assured that a common technical committee would be formed by his ministry and the Chief Minister’s Office to iron out and to agree on matters of public importance.
“The Chief Minister was in agreement that if it is related to labour and it is for the protection of workers in this country, there should not be any delay and hindrance.
“In this respect, all those amended Acts that had been passed in Parliament and those that we plan to amend will be discussed at the technical stage before it proceeds on,” he told a press conference after making a courtesy call on Abang Johari at the latter’s office at the new DUN Complex here yesterday.
Kulasegaran said basically his ministry was planning to amend nine Acts in relation to labour in Parliament.
He noted that so far Parliament had already passed the amended Children and Young Persons Act and Private Employment Agency Act, 2017.
The other Acts that the federal government had proposed to make major amendments are the Employment Act 1955; Sarawak Labour Ordinance 1976; Sabah Labour Ordinance; Occupational, Safety and Health Acts (OSHA); Industrial Relation Acts 1967; Trade Union Act 1959 and Minimum Standard for Housing and Amenities Act 1990 for workers.
“As you know, some of the other Acts are related to Sarawak, and that is why I am here to meet the Chief Minister to speak and get his consent because we also have the Sarawak Labour Ordinance ( SLO).
“We are happy that the formation of the technical committee will be taking place as soon as possible. The State Secretary was in the meeting and he has agreed to lead the team on behalf of the Sarawak government and we will also form our committee to look into it,” he said.
Kulasegaran said the committee might comprise four representatives from each side, adding that the Human Resources Ministry would be headed by the head of policy division in the ministry and coordinated by the Sarawak Labour director.
He said there was also a proposal to incorporate most of these amended Acts under the SLO, explaining that ‘ incorporated’ means instead of putting in different Acts that the federal government has, they will just put all of them in the SLO, specifically the Children and Young Persons’ Act and Minimum Standard for Housing and Amenities Act.
Kulasegaran has also agreed to look into the suggestion by the Chief Minister to include the Sarawak Business Federation as a party in the National Wage Council so that they can also participate and give their views and opinions on how best to represent Sarawak.
He said presently the council already had a representative from Sarawak, from the Malaysian Employers’ Federation and in all government linked companies there are representatives from Sarawak and Sabah as well.
“We can substitute them with this ( Sarawak Business Federation) and we will see what we can do to accommodate them,” he said.