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3 June, 2019On 30 April 2019, the National Union of Transport Equipment & Allied Industries Workers (NUTEAIW) signed the tenth collective agreement with Denso Malaysia, the largest manufacturer of automobile components in Malaysia with 1,365 workers.
After almost a year of marathon bargaining, NUTEAIW successfully negotiated a wage increment of 8.5 per cent for 950 union members. The collective agreement also covers other benefits such as meal allowance for overtime, canteen food subsidy and medical benefit for employees and immediate family members.
“This is a meaningful moment because it marks the tenth collective agreement over a span of thirty years. However, we witness widening inequality over the same period of time, labour share of income per GDP remains low at 35.2 per cent. Therefore, wealth of companies should be shared with workers,”
said Gopal Kishnam, general secretary of NUTEAIW.
In the last financial year, the Denso group of companies generated US $48.3 billion in revenue and US $2.8 billion in profit globally. For its operation in the Asia region, the total revenue increased 7.1 per cent to US $12.8 billion, while its operating profit decreased 6.1 percent to US $1.157 million.
The managing director of Denso Malaysia, Tomoya Nakamura, said that he committed to improving the welfare of workers and sustainable development goals despite the company facing various challenges, with the business environment becoming very competitive and severe.
Gopal added that Malaysian trade unions were looking at reforming labour laws. One proposal was to shorten the working hours to ensure workers’ physical and mental health. He urged employers to create a conducive working environment with reduced working hours.