AMENDMENTS to the Industrial Relations Act 1967, deemed “union-busting” by the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC), will in fact create stronger unions with better bargaining power, the Human Resources Ministry said.

“MTUC’s allegation that the amendments will deprive workers of effective bargaining power is baseless,” the ministry said in a statement today in response to MTUC’s criticism that it’s out to weaken unions and destroy workers’ collective bargaining powers.

The ministry said it was MTUC which demanded that freedom-of-association principles be adopted in Malaysia’s labour laws, and it was the congress which urged Putrajaya to ratify the International Labour Organisation (ILO) convention No. 87 on freedom of association and protection of the right to organise convention, 1948 (C87).

“This demand has been raised by MTUC for the past 20 years and recently, this matter was raised again at the ILO conference in Geneva this year.

“The ministry is now amending the relevant labour legislations to ensure the provisions in the legislations are in line with C87, before considering ratification. Currently, labour legislations in Malaysia contain restrictive provisions, especially with regard to the formation of trade unions. 

“MTUC’s demand for Malaysia to ratify C87 without having multiplicity of trade unions defies logic as multiplicity of trade unions forms part and parcel of freedom of association and it cannot be construed otherwise according to the whims of MTUC. The ILO has also stated during the engagement with the ministry that multiplicity of trade unions is a core principle of freedom of association,” the ministry said.

MTUC secretary-general J. Solomon said that the move to allow multiple unions in one workplace would lead to chaos and in-fighting among unions, instead of focusing on workers’ rights.

MTUC could not demand the ratification of C87 without accepting the provisions to allow multiple unions, the ministry said.

“MTUC cannot be selective in asking the government to ratify C87 while they themselves are objecting to multiplicity of trade unions that underlies the very basic foundation of C87.”

The ministry added that the current law, which does not allow more than one union in a workplace, had the negative impact of creating “a monopoly and manipulation by certain trade union leaders” – a situation that caused low union membership.

“This has created a situation where workers have no say in choosing their preferred trade unions as there is no alternative for them to do so currently. Hence, many workers are discouraged to join any union at all. 

“At one time, density of union membership in the country was about 10% and currently it is about 6% which is alarming. There is a possibility for it to go even lower if workers are not empowered to exercise their rights to establish and join unions freely.”

The ministry said C87 is aimed at protecting workers’ rights to organise without interference from government and employers, and that a multiplicity of trade unions allowed workers to choose the union that best represented their interests.

Another amendment also paved the way for trade unions to increase their bargaining power, including to strike and picket, without government interference.

The amendments to the Industrial Relations Act were tabled in the Dewan Rakyat last month.

MTUC also said the changes allowed the ministry and employers to “promote their preferred unions” by allowing the director-general of industrial relations to hold secret ballots to award sole bargaining rights to the union deemed to have the majority support from workers.  

The ministry said this was a “fear-mongering allegation”, as the D-G’s role would only be to facilitate the process of workers deciding among themselves their preferred union.

The ministry called for personal agendas to be set aside and to study the amendments as a package aimed at strengthening trade unions and workers in the long run. – November 8, 2019.