GEORGE TOWN – Employers in Malaysia need to pay greater attention to the living conditions of their undocumented migrant workers in view of the spread of Covid-19 among them, said the Penang division of the Malayan Trades Union Congress (MTUC).
Saying that the pandemic has exposed the inability of some local employers to provide proper housing for undocumented workers, Penang MTUC secretary K. Veeriah said in a statement today that MTUC estimated undocumented worker numbers to be in the region of four million.
“They have not been given due recognition for their contributions to sustaining the economy of our nation. They remain ostracised only on account of their non-documented status,” he said.
Veeriah said there was no justification for the government to deny them their basic right to acceptable living conditions, access to health care, and social security protection.
“Our nation cannot lay claim to being part of the international community, if it abrogates its moral obligations to the millions of non-documented migrant workers who have been toiling to sustain the economic transformation,” he said.
“They too are an integral composition of the nation’s economic endeavours and as such ought to be accorded due recognition per se."
Veeriah said most substandard housing is in the construction and plantation sectors.
He said that although the Workers' Minimum Standards Of Housing And Amenities Act 1990 (Act 446) has been around, it was sad that the government has only recognised its usefulness in reference to the Top Glove Teratai Covid-19 cluster.
“The pandemic has confirmed the concerns of trade unions and activists of the unacceptable living conditions provided to migrant workers,” he said.
“When such concerns were then raised by activists, we were accused of peddling half-truths or worse still, downright lies.”
Veeriah said there was a need to recognise other frontliners besides those working in healthcare and formal security agencies such as the police.
He said that the Health Ministry continues to engage thousands of workers as cleaners and security guards on an outsourced contract system, and that these groups of workers are not given due recognition for their unwavering sacrifices in the battle against the pandemic.
Veeriah said MTUC had been given to understand that these groups of workers are assigned cleaning jobs even in Covid-19 wards, but are not entitled to incentives so paid to government employees.
“Such discrimination, in our view, is a gross injustice that ought to be remedied.” – The Vibes, December 4, 2020.
