THE Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC) branch in Sarawak has taken the state government to task for continuously failing to upgrade its long-outdated labour laws.
In a statement, the state chapter said the state government had repeatedly promised to upgrade its labour laws to be on par with that of the rest of the country but had failed to fulfil its promises.
“Sabah had already upgraded its state labour laws which are now on par with the labour laws in the peninsula states.
“Sarawak has still not taken steps to present a motion to parliament to upgrade its state labour laws.
“The Sarawak state government must give a good explanation on why it continuously failed to upgrade its state labour laws,” Sarawak MTUC said in a statement.
On May 2, the Sarawak state government had promised that it would upgrade its long-outdated labour laws.
The Sarawak Labour Ordinance, formulated in the 1970s, would be upgraded so that it would be on par with labour laws in Peninsular Malaysia states that offered adequate annual leave, overtime pay, and reasonable working hours to workers, Deputy State Minister for Labour, Immigration and Project Monitoring Datuk Gerawat Gala had said.
He said the state had submitted a proposal to upgrade the Sarawak Labour Ordinance to the federal human resources minister.
“The proposal, once approved by the federal minister, will be brought to parliament.
“We hope to do this by June or July this year,” he said in a press statement that day.
Once the upgrading is done, workers in Sarawak would enjoy seven days paternity leave for new fathers as well as other benefits like increased maternity leave to 98 days and a reduction in weekly working hours to 45 hours for all workers. – July 18, 2024.
