MTUC Sarawak welcomes amended Act 177
KUCHING: The amendments to the Industrial Relations Act would lead to a more proactive industrial relationship, improve workers’ rights, and encourage more professional human resources management by employers, said Malaysian Trades Union Congress ( MTUC) Sarawak secretary Andrew Lo.
This would, in turn, increase labour productivity and make businesses more competitive both locally and internationally, he pointed out.
“Although MTUC Sarawak is disappointed that not all MTUC’s proposals are reflected in the amendments, it is, nevertheless, optimistic that the amendments will be far more positive for the workers and also the labour movement, the economy, and the country,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Lo said MTUC Sarawak was all- welcoming of the announcement by the Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M Saravanan that the relevant amended parts of the Industrial Relations Act would be implemented effective this Jan 1.
“Businesses thrive by empowering workers, not exploiting them.
“We urge the ministry to forge ahead with the complementary amendments to the Trade Unions Act and Employment Act or Sarawak Labour Ordinance to bring our labour standards to international standards,” he said.
Lo pointed out that this was crucial in an era of global trade as exemplified by the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership ( RCEP) trade agreements.
“As we move into digital economy, antiquated regressive policies must be thrown out and we must adopt the international best practices.”
On Monday, Saravanan was reported as saying that the Industrial Relations Act 1967 ( Act 177), which was amended in December last year, would come into force this Jan 1 – meant to improve the protection of workers’ rights in the country.
He said the key areas of amendments would include the repeal of the Human Resources Minister’s power to refer representations on dismissal cases to the Industrial Court, which would instead be given to the Director- General for Industrial Relations; as well as the repeal of discretionary power to refer cases to the Industrial Court without further filtering.
Other amendments included the employer or employee could be represented by any person of their choice, except lawyers, during the conciliation process at the Department of Industrial Relations; and the application of the provision of representation on reinstatement (Section 20) could be extended to employees of statutory bodies by order of the Human Resources Minister, after consultations with the statutory body.
“Beginning Jan 1, 2021, in addition to procedures related to promotion, trade unions can also negotiate about general issues related to the exchange, recruitment, termination of services due to labour surplus, dismissal and reinstatement as well as distribution of tasks.
“The punishment of imprisonment for illegal picketing and strikes has been abolished in line with international labour standards,” the minister was quoted as having said.
Although MTUC Sarawak is disappointed that not all MTUC’s proposals are reflected in the amendments, it is, nevertheless, optimistic that the amendments will be far more positive for the workers and also the labour movement, the economy, and the country. Andrew Lo