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MTUC stages protest at parliament

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Khalid Atan, Kuala Lumpur – About 80 people from the Malaysia Trades Union Congress (MTUC) arrived outside the Parliament this morning to protest against a proposed amendment to the Employment Act 1955.

The crowd, which arrived at 10.45am, argued that the proposed amendmens would further infringe workers' rights in Malaysia.

Present by MTUC's side were its affiliate National Union of Banking Employees (NUBE), and Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) chairman and treasurer, Nasir Hashim and A Sivarajan.

Also present were about 30 police officers guarding the Parliament's entrance.

The protest took place despite a tripartite meeting taking place at about the same time to find an amicable solution to the problem.

The meeting involved representatives from the employees led by MTUC president Khalid Atan, Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) and Human Resources Minister Dr S Subramaniam and took place at the Socso building in Kampung Baru, Kuala Lumpur.

"We are aware of the meeting but we continue with the picket to make our demands clear to the government," said Balasubramaniam.

For months the MTUC had called upon the government to withdraw the proposed amendment, arguing that that the proposed law would be detrimental to the workers.

Najib should intervene

Among others, MTUC said, the new amendment would relinquish the employers of their responsibilities from compensating their workers when retrenched during tough economic times.

The amended law would also allow employers to delay overtime payments to their workers by a month.

Khalid arrived from the meeting at about 11.15am and told the crowd that the proposed amendment would only be tabled at the end of this month.

He said he had submitted a letter of protest to Subramaniam and urged the government to withdraw the proposed amendment altogether. "And the minister had agreed to look into the matter," said Khalid.

Urging Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to intervene, he also said that MTUC would not hesitate to hold another picket if the government was adamant about the amendment.

"But such a decision will not come from me alone. It will be the decision of the our general workers' council," said Khalid. The crowd dispersed at 11.30am.