PUTRAJAYA should not allow any more non-essential businesses to open without the full endorsement of the Health Ministry, the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) said.

“Certain events over the past few days seem to indicate that the Health Ministry was either not consulted or its views were ignored when the government announced on Friday that it would consider allowing certain non-essential businesses to operate during the third phase of the movement control order (MCO).

“MTUC is against any move to open up non-essential businesses without the full endorsement of the Health Ministry.

“MTUC fully concurs with the health director-general as many positive cases are still being traced on a daily basis all over the country,” its secretary-general J Solomon said in a statement today.

Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has expressed his disagreement with the government’s move to allow certain services, such as barbershops and optical shops, to reopen for limited times during the third phase of the MCO.

The reopening of these services was announced on Friday by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, hours after Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin ordered the MCO extended until April 28.

MTUC said it welcomed Muhyiddin’s decision to overrule the opening of barbershops and to also put a halt on Ramadan bazaars.

However, the government should not make such announcements before setting in place safety measures to ensure the protection of employers, workers and the public, MTUC added.

“Proposing to reopen barbershops with scant information on safety measures is an example of poor discretion. Similar mistakes must be avoided.

“Many issues on restarting certain non-essential services are still clouded with ambiguity. There has been little, if any, transparency on how the government intended to go about allowing such businesses, to reopen.”

MTUC said the government should plan ahead for the protection of public health, employers and workers for other sectors to be re-opened, without implementing such moves yet.

Putrajaya should make these plans part of a “blueprint” for restarting the economy in the long term, since a vaccine for Covid-19 may take year or more to develop, it added.

MTUC also viewed with concern attempts “by certain government leaders and employers to shift the Covid-19 narrative from the aspect of public health risks to reopening the economy”.

“The focus should not be on when non-essential business should be allowed to reopen, (but on) whether it’s safe to do so in the first place.”

While many workers whose earnings are hit hard by Covid-19, MTUC said no employer should force employers to work and expose them to infections.

“For this reason MTUC has been embarking for the implementation of the emergency employment regulations to prevent retrenchment, pay cut and forced leave on workers.” – April 14, 2020.