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28 March, 2001The IMF is requesting the management of Matsushita Air-Conditioning Group of Companies to act in good faith and reconvene negotiations.
MALAYSIA: The bargaining dispute between the Electrical Industry Workers' Union and the Matsushita Air-Conditioning Group of Companies has still not been resolved.
As reported on this website on March 2, negotiations to conclude the 9th Collective Agreement between the union and the company came to a halt when the company called a deadlock in the talks and, with unprecedented speed, the minister of human resources referred the dispute to the Industrial Court for arbitration. The minister's move compelled the union to stop picketing.
During the negotiations, the main issue opposed by the union had been the company's attempt to radically alter the conditions of employment for the more than 6,000 workers. Not only did the company try to change the shift system, but it threatened to withdraw checkoff, an unprecedented tactic in the up till now positive relationship of over 20-25 years between the EIWU and MACG.
On behalf of the International Metalworkers' Federation, its Southeast Asia regional representative, P. Arunasalam, has written to the managing director of MACG in Malaysia to express the IMF's growing concern over the prolonged dispute. The IMF believes that "the best solution to the pending dispute is one that is negotiated" and that the company should take the initiative to reconvene negotiations with the union, without any conditions, in the hope of reaching an amicable settlement.
The IMF's Japanese affiliate, the IMF-JC, will raise the matter again with top Matsushita management in Japan through the Matsushita union there.
As reported on this website on March 2, negotiations to conclude the 9th Collective Agreement between the union and the company came to a halt when the company called a deadlock in the talks and, with unprecedented speed, the minister of human resources referred the dispute to the Industrial Court for arbitration. The minister's move compelled the union to stop picketing.
During the negotiations, the main issue opposed by the union had been the company's attempt to radically alter the conditions of employment for the more than 6,000 workers. Not only did the company try to change the shift system, but it threatened to withdraw checkoff, an unprecedented tactic in the up till now positive relationship of over 20-25 years between the EIWU and MACG.
On behalf of the International Metalworkers' Federation, its Southeast Asia regional representative, P. Arunasalam, has written to the managing director of MACG in Malaysia to express the IMF's growing concern over the prolonged dispute. The IMF believes that "the best solution to the pending dispute is one that is negotiated" and that the company should take the initiative to reconvene negotiations with the union, without any conditions, in the hope of reaching an amicable settlement.
The IMF's Japanese affiliate, the IMF-JC, will raise the matter again with top Matsushita management in Japan through the Matsushita union there.