KUALA LUMPUR – The amendments to the Industrial Relations Act 1967 (Act 177) which came into force today will improve workers’ rights and speed up the judicial process.
According to the Labour Law Reform Coalition (LLRC) co-chairpersons N.Gopal Kishnam and Irene Xavier, these amendments are also a step towards bringing the country’s labour legislation in line with international standards.
“These positive amendments which include the abolishment of punishment for picketing and strikes, allows trade unions to negotiate general issues related to the exchange, recruitment and termination of services due to labour surplus, dismissal and reinstatement.
“These amendments will also repeal the minister’s power to refer representations on dismissal cases to the Industrial Court and give this power instead to the Director-General for Industrial Relations,” the LLRC said in a statement.
Gopal and Xavier were lauding Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan who announced the amendments to Act 177 on Monday.
The key areas of the amendments included the repeal of the minister’s unfettered discretionary powers to refer cases to the Industrial Court.
Other amendments are that the employer or employee may be represented by any person of their choice, except lawyers, during the conciliation process at the Industrial Relations Department.
Another amendment is that the application of the provision of representation on reinstatement (Section 20) may be extended to employees of statutory bodies by order of the Human Resources Minister, after consultations with the statutory body.
The LLRC also urged the Government to not stop at these amendments alone, but to continue to improve worker protections in the country.
“The government must not stop here, but now continue by tabling and passing amendments to the Trade Union Act 1959 and the Employment Act 1955 in Parliament in the first quarter of 2021.
“Amendments to the Trade Union Act is key because it is interlocked with the Industrial Relations Act.
Without amending the Trade Union Act, trade unions cannot enjoy the new parameters of freedom of association partially guaranteed under Industrial Relations amendments,” said Gopal.
Meanwhile, Xavier said the Employment Act must also be amended to improve basic work conditions including legislating non-exploitative working hours, broadening the salary range which falls under the law’s purview and including domestic work as work.
The Employment Act must also enhance protection of migrant workers to prevent labour and rights violations such as employers withholding passports, lack of access to remedy and inhumane work conditions.
“While these amendments are heartening, more can be done. The authorities must also ensure that they step up enforcement to ensure that employers are indeed complying with these new regulations,
“We also urge the government and relevant bodies such as the Malaysian Trades Unions Congress and the Malaysian Employers Federation to ratify or support the ratification of the International Labour Organization’s Convention 190 to curb violence and harassment in the workplace in the next international labour conference in June 2021,” she said.
“The LLRC is committed to continuous engagement with the government and will push for incremental changes until Malaysia is at par with various international labour standards.” – The Vibes, January 1, 2021
