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17 September, 2001Workers and their trade union were forced to stop a peaceful picket in Shah Alam, Malaysia.
MALAYSIA: The Electrical Industry Workers' Union, an IMF affiliate representing over 30,000 workers in the electrical and electronics industry in Malaysia, has filed an official complaint for harassment against a police officer in Shah Alam. When EIWU members were staging a peaceful picket outside the M/S Federal Power Sdn Bhd on September 10, in Shah Alam, the police officer in question ordered the union and its members to immediately stop picketing, despite the fact that it was legally in accordance with provisions in Malaysian labour law, i.e. the Industrial Relations Act 1967 and the Trade Union Act 1959.
The union's decision to strike was made when collective bargaining negotiations with M/S Federal Power for the 8th collective agreement reached a deadlock over management's refusal to improve conditions of employment at the plant.
In a letter to the regional chief of police, the EIWU general secretary, Vejaragavan Gopal, states that "peaceful picketing is a fundamental and legitimate right of workers. To order the picket to stop or by applying any form of harassment from your side amounts to a serious violation of workers' and trade union rights."
The union's decision to strike was made when collective bargaining negotiations with M/S Federal Power for the 8th collective agreement reached a deadlock over management's refusal to improve conditions of employment at the plant.
In a letter to the regional chief of police, the EIWU general secretary, Vejaragavan Gopal, states that "peaceful picketing is a fundamental and legitimate right of workers. To order the picket to stop or by applying any form of harassment from your side amounts to a serious violation of workers' and trade union rights."