EMPLOYERS who cut the salaries of their foreign workers to cover the costs of bringing them into the country will see their quotas cancelled, said Human Resources Minister M. Saravanan.

He said employers who bring in outside labour must bear all the costs, including accommodation and flight fares, so that foreign workers incur zero costs.

However, the ministry cannot interfere in matters related to agents in the workers’ home country, he added.

“Employers must bear the costs and not replace them by cutting the salaries of workers. If workers file complaints via the Working for Workers application, we will cancel (the employers’) quotas.”

Saravanan denied that there were protests by employment agencies in Bangladesh when he led a ministerial delegation to the Bangladesh-Malaysia joint working group meeting in Dhaka yesterday.

In fact, he added, he was welcomed and managed to hold fruitful discussions on the entry of Bangladeshi workers into Malaysia.

“I met with eight Bangladeshi ministers, including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

“In principle, we agreed to bring in workers for several sectors such as agriculture, plantation, and manufacturing and development.”

He also met with his Bangladeshi counterpart, Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmed, at the meeting.

The media yesterday reported that the Association of Bangladesh International Recruitment Agencies held a protest against Malaysia’s stand to allow only 25 recruitment agents.

Saravanan said the country still adheres to the stance, and that the ministry has set up a committee to study and fine-tune 1,520 agent applications. – Bernama, June 3, 2022.