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4 November, 2001Union continues to fight for the right to organise electronics workers in a national organisation.
MALAYSIA: In reply to the minister for human resources, Fong Chan Onn, who stated on October 30 that in-house unions for electronics workers in Malaysia were "adequate" and that his ministry was not in favour of the formation of a national electronics workers' union, the Malaysian Council of the International Metalworkers' Federation (MC-IMF) said that "in making a sweeping statement that workers in the electronics industry were among the best paid and their jobs most sought after, the minister is trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the public."
For approximately 25 years now, the MC-IMF, with the full support of the International Metalworkers' Federation, has been fighting for the right to establish a national union for workers in the electronics sector, but the government has barred this possibility and only authorises the formation of in-house unions, which so far represent just 5 per cent of the country's 150,000 electronics workers -- of whom 80 per cent are women. The MC-IMF's general secretary, N. Gopalkishnam, insists that this system "is open to managerial abuse" and deprives workers in this sector of their right to the security of free collective bargaining. To add to this poor state of affairs, the current economic slowdown in the U.S. has presented a real danger of increasing layoffs in many electronics companies operating in Malaysia whose in-house unions have practically no possibility to protect their members.
Malaysia is a party to the International Labour Organisation Declaration on the Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work adopted by the International Labour Conference in July 1998. Among the ILO's core labour standards is its Convention No. 87 on the Right to Organise and Bargain Collectively. Thus, the Malaysian minister's statement is in violation of this convention.
The MC-IMF groups the Electrical Industry Workers' Union, Metal Industry Employees' Union, National Union of Transport Equipment and Allied Industries Workers and the Union of Malayawata Steel Workers.
For approximately 25 years now, the MC-IMF, with the full support of the International Metalworkers' Federation, has been fighting for the right to establish a national union for workers in the electronics sector, but the government has barred this possibility and only authorises the formation of in-house unions, which so far represent just 5 per cent of the country's 150,000 electronics workers -- of whom 80 per cent are women. The MC-IMF's general secretary, N. Gopalkishnam, insists that this system "is open to managerial abuse" and deprives workers in this sector of their right to the security of free collective bargaining. To add to this poor state of affairs, the current economic slowdown in the U.S. has presented a real danger of increasing layoffs in many electronics companies operating in Malaysia whose in-house unions have practically no possibility to protect their members.
Malaysia is a party to the International Labour Organisation Declaration on the Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work adopted by the International Labour Conference in July 1998. Among the ILO's core labour standards is its Convention No. 87 on the Right to Organise and Bargain Collectively. Thus, the Malaysian minister's statement is in violation of this convention.
The MC-IMF groups the Electrical Industry Workers' Union, Metal Industry Employees' Union, National Union of Transport Equipment and Allied Industries Workers and the Union of Malayawata Steel Workers.