Malaysian Trades Union Congress chides Idris for personal attack on its officals

KUCHING: Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) Sarawak Division has taken Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu ( PBB) information chief Dato Idris Buang to task for what it viewed as personal attacks and wild accusations against union officials instead of addressing issues affecting workers in Sarawak.

MTUC Sarawak Division secretary Andrew Lo, who described Idris’s response as ‘ultra defensive and paranoid’, said MTUC has no doubt that the PBB information chief’s statement had the full approval of PBB’s top leadership.

“Since he is the information chief, we must take his views as the official view of PBB. It is shocking that the backbone party of the state government has resorted to personal attacks that illuminate their failure to engage constructively with workers in Sarawak on fundamental issues.

“They don’t understand what the difference is between creation of jobs and creation of decent jobs. There is absolutely no point in creating tens of thousands of jobs in timber and oil palm plantations only to have more than 80 per cent filled by foreign workers. The oil palm industry’s own figures stated that more than 80 per cent of employees are only paid minimum wages, despite some working for more than 10 years,” said Lo through the union’s press statement here yesterday.

Lo said Idris had refused to address why not a single one out of 29 ministers and assistant ministers is responsible for labour, despite their insisting that any laws relating to labour must have the consent of the state government.

“MTUC Sarawak has called for the setting up of such an important position ever since the days when our current TYT was the Chief Minister, through the late Adenan Satem and the current CM (Chief Minister). Please google all our statements on this issue. We are happy to provide Idris with hard copies,” he said.

Lo also claimed that Idris refused to address the question why 10 out of 17 poorest districts in the nation are in Sarawak even though the state ranked No. 3 in GDP.

“Perhaps he should know that even now, more than 86 per cent of Sarawakians earn below RM5,000 a month. And that household debt is at 146 per cent of household income, meaning that for every ringgit we earn, we already owe RM1.46,” he said.

Lo added Idis talked about MTUC being a strategic partner but numerous suggestions and memoranda to the state government to set a state-level human resources consultative platform for all tripartite partners – government, employers and employees – to find ways to move forward, had fallen on deaf ears.

“The state government has been making arbitrary decisions on issues affecting Sarawak workers as well as taken positions on the ongoing amendments of labour laws without ever seeking the view of workers in Sarawak. They may have consulted with employers but never workers. Perhaps PBB only listens to the views of employers. We have not seen any statement from PBB or its YBs urging employers especially timber companies to increase minimum wages, to be on par with West Malaysia. This is despite the fact that cost of living is much higher in Sarawak.

“Instead, we have seen statements by government YBs parroting the calls by employers to delay the implementation of minimum wages. This, despite the fact that at that time 48.1 per cent of workers in Sarawak earn below the poverty line of RM800,” he said.

Even when the state government organised a forum to seek ways to resolve shortage of workers in the oil palm industry, Lo said it deliberately denied any representation for workers to air their views.

“They only invited employers and the industry players. This is arrogance at its worse. We are not expecting the state government to create decent jobs by itself but it must have the wisdom and be smart enough to design long-term policies to attract investments and encourage the creation of decent jobs. Instead of creating high value and decent jobs, we allowed in tens of thousands of low-wage and unskilled workers, thus driving Sarawakians to seek employment outside Sarawak and resulting in quite a few to be conned,” he said.

Lo urged that, with their overwhelming majority in the State Legislative Assembly, MTUC Sarawak expects PBB not to be so defensive and paranoid and to treat every criticism as a political conspiracy or agenda.

“PBB should be thankful that MTUC has always been apolitical. We will work with any parties to advance the economic interest of local workers which will lead to higher domestic consumption and therefore enhance economic growth and development,” he said.