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24 September, 2001
Malaysia's human resources minister, Fong Chan Onn, has once more made clear that the policy of his government will remain the same as over the last 25 years. Thus Malaysia's 150,000 electronics workers, mostly female, will not be able to organise in the trade union of their choice.
The Malaysian government's imposition of a ban on a national union is a blatant violation of international conventions and shows the government's disregard for International Labour Organisation decisions and opinions which have been expressed every time the case has been raised in its Committee on Freedom of Association.
The IMF and its affiliated unions in Malaysia have been conducting a hard fight against the way in which the government is treating the workers in this country and will continue to contest it. We are especially disappointed, after all the contacts and discussions we have held with Malaysian labour ministers in the past, that the results have not been fruitful. On the contrary, it looks as if we are back to Square One.
So it is time that we, within the International Metalworkers' Federation, together with our allies in the Global Unions and their affiliates in Malaysia, plan for strong action which will bring this more than 20-year-old issue to an end. The IMF has suggested that:
The IMF is set to continue the struggle and we will never give up.
The Malaysian government's imposition of a ban on a national union is a blatant violation of international conventions and shows the government's disregard for International Labour Organisation decisions and opinions which have been expressed every time the case has been raised in its Committee on Freedom of Association.
The IMF and its affiliated unions in Malaysia have been conducting a hard fight against the way in which the government is treating the workers in this country and will continue to contest it. We are especially disappointed, after all the contacts and discussions we have held with Malaysian labour ministers in the past, that the results have not been fruitful. On the contrary, it looks as if we are back to Square One.
So it is time that we, within the International Metalworkers' Federation, together with our allies in the Global Unions and their affiliates in Malaysia, plan for strong action which will bring this more than 20-year-old issue to an end. The IMF has suggested that:
- a national federation of electronics workers be formed, regardless of what the government says;
- we start recruiting workers in electronics companies, especially those operating in the export processing zones, into this national federation;
- we start training programmes for these workers on organising, collective bargaining, and health & safety.
The IMF is set to continue the struggle and we will never give up.