KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) may be caught in a quandary as guest of honour Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob may witness a protest against the proposed amendments to the Trade Unions Act 1959.
MTUC will be holding its triennial delegates conference (TDC) this weekend, with Ismail Sabri slated to officiate the event on Saturday.
Immediate past president Datuk Abdul Halim Mansor told The Vibes that he is confused over the decision to invite the prime minister since a recent general council meeting had greenlighted proposals for an orderly protest.
Claiming that there was no talk of inviting Ismail Sabri or other VIPS to the TDC during the general council meeting on June 26, he alleged that several member associations were not informed about the decision since they did not receive the conference’s agenda.
“It is normal for us to hold campaigns and demonstrations during the first morning of the TDC. I am not sure if the prime minister has been told about this,” said Halim, who is National Union of Petroleum and Chemical Industry Workers Peninsular Malaysia (NUPCIW) secretary-general.
He added that the MTUC president would normally officiate the event before proceeding with matters on the agenda, so he is unsure what the prime minister will be doing at the event.
The Trade Unions (Amendment) Bill 2022, among others, seeks to amend the act to remove restrictions on the formation of trade unions based on certain establishments or similarities in trade, occupation or industry to allow for a diversity of trade unions.
Halim’s statement, however, is contradicted by MTUC secretary-general Kamarul Baharin Mansor, who told The Vibes that there was no mention of a protest during the general council meeting.
“The general council has made the decision to oppose the possible duplicates of unions in similar industries, and our final stand on the matter will be determined during the upcoming conference.”
He said Ismail Sabri’s presence at the TDC was noted in the conference’s agenda that had been conveyed to member associations via email two weeks before the general council meeting.
“All member associations should have received the document as we had also sent out the candidacy and delegate forms for the conference through email,” he said, adding that he will be taking precautions by informing the prime minister about the supposed protest.
Besides that, he said he has received a complaint lodged by Halim regarding alleged misconduct in the party and has been called in by the Registrar of Societies (RoS).
“I told the registrar that the date for the conference was decided by the general council, which is the highest decision-making authority of the MTUC based on our congress constitution.
“During its meeting on March 20, votes were taken regarding holding the conference on July 2 and 3, with 36 votes for and 12 against.”
He added that the issue of associations not being allowed to take part in the conference due to late submissions of candidacy forms had been put to a vote during the meeting, with 39 voting to maintain the exclusion, while one voted to overlook the matter.
Halim, whose union has been denied a spot in the Congress because of late submission, had lodged a report to the RoS, claiming that proper process had not been followed before the setting of the conference date.
In a letter to RoS, he said MTUC failed to obtain an approval letter from the registrar to bring forward the conference, adding that it should have been called between October and December of the third year of any three-year term – in line with MTUC constitution.
Previously, it was reported that Halim sought a court declaration that he was the rightful MTUC president after his challenger Mohd Jafar Majid withdrew from the race.
Besides naming Kamarul as the defendant in the suit filed in April, Halim also asked the court to nullify all three general council meetings Kamarul had called as they were held beyond the body’s constitutional powers. – The Vibes, June 30, 2022
