20 May, 2010The company Federal Power Cables is failing to comply with its agreement with workers and is attempting to bust the Electrical Industry Workers' Union.
MALAYSIA: About 200 workers who are members of IMF affiliate the Electrical Industry Workers' Union (EIWU) staged a peaceful picket in front of a major high voltage cable manufacturing company on May 19. The company, Federal Power Cables, is failing to meet the terms of an agreement with the union. The company is located in the biggest industrial city in Malaysia called Shah Alam, which is about 40 km from Kuala Lumpur. There was a heavy police presence, which are common sights during industrial disputes in Malaysia.
The union has an existing collective agreement with Federal Power Cables, one management failed to comply with. The management refused to grant the contractual bonus and annual wage increments to more than 300 workers. EIWU made several attempts to negotiate with management but the results have been negative. Being left with no other alternative the workers decided to stage pickets outside the company premises.
Maniyan Poovan, General Secretary of EIWU said that at one stage the Managing Director openly stated that he does not like national unions like the EIWU, but preferred in-house unions. He also coaxed workers to leave the union by granting better conditions of employment, which are more favourable than the collective agreement.
Maniyan stressed that the management is also using racial issues to divide the multi-racial workforce. The company uses favouritism based along racial lines to deprive long-serving workers of their promotion. He added, "Tthe union has helped this company for five years to recover from a slump in business and now when it's business has turned around the management don't want to honour the provisions of the collective agreement and pay the workers their due benefits." He stressed that the picket would continue and since this plant works on shifts, pickets will be held at different times. He also expressed disgust that the management is trying to bust the union which had been representing the workers in this company for more than 30 years.
Aside from this the management started issuing show-cause letters to workers who took sick leave and approved annual leave. The local shop-stewards were also issued with show-cause letters which might lead to harsh disciplinary action.
Arunasalam. P, IMF Regional Representative who was present at the picket site expressed solidarity support on behalf of the IMF. He called upon the management to honour the collective agreement and pay the workers.
A news report about the picket can be seen here.