KUALA LUMPUR – Service sectors such as retail, hotels, spas and theme parks are feeling the brunt of the government’s decision to bring in migrant workers for only certain industries, and are urging Putrajaya to immediately do so for all sectors.
Industries Unite (IU), which comprises several trade organisations, said that immediately allowing all sectors to apply for migrant workers will eliminate exploitation and the underground migrant labour market, besides boosting economic recovery, especially with tourists coming in.
“It will allow all businesses to be able to operate at full potential capacity and with maximum efficiency and productivity.
“All business sectors are suffering from severe labour shortages. The opening for merely a few sectors is not practical and will aggravate the problems with undocumented migrant workers,” IU said in a statement today.
The alliance of business groups was referring to the Home Ministry and Human Resources Ministry’s moves to shorten approval time for migrant labour to three days in order to meet pressing manpower needs following the economy’s reopening after the pandemic. This is known as the Foreign Workers Employment Relaxation Plan.
However, this is only applicable to the hiring of migrant workers in manufacturing, construction, plantations, agriculture and the services sector, namely restaurants.
IU said the hotels, shopping (malls and retailers), food and beverage, entertainment, theme parks, health, spa and wellness sectors are all being overlooked under the current policy.
This does not make sense, given the reopening of borders and expected surge in tourist arrivals, the group said.
IU also cautioned that being selective with industries could “create a thriving underground black market of trading in foreign workers”.
This would happen when sectors allowed to bring in migrant workers “exploit the inability” of other business sectors that are currently not allowed to.
“This will inadvertently result in the trading of foreign workers akin to the slave trade. These legal workers effectively become illegal workers once their employment is transferred to a new employer, and especially so in business sectors that are currently not allowed to apply for legal foreign workers.”
Putrajaya must also ensure that no employer will employ more workers than needed.
“If all sectors of the economy are allowed to apply for what they need, there will be no need to engage any illegal workers. Thus, the middlemen role will be eliminated, and legal workers will have no place to jump to.”
The Human Resources Ministry has stated that it will bring in 500,000 migrant workers in stages under the employment relaxation plan.
IU comprises the Federation of Malaysia Business Associations, Malaysia Shopping Malls Association, Bumiputra Retailers Organisation, Malaysian Association of Theme Parks & Family Attractions, Malaysian Association of Wellness & Spa, Association of Malaysian Spas, Malaysia Retailers Association, Malaysia Retail Chains Association, Malaysian Association of Hotel Owners, Malaysian Association of Hotels, and Malaysia Budget and Business Hotel Association. – The Vibes, January 31, 2023
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