PERIKATAN Nasional is ignoring the voice of workers while drawing up important policies, especially those that will affect directly the workforce, said the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC).

The umbrella group of unions said that the government has yet to engage with it despite being in power since March.

MTUC, which represents 15 million workers, said the latest example of a unilateral decision is the move to launch a digital economy master plan in October.

“Regrettably, MTUC only learnt of the existence of such a master plan through the media when it was announced by the Minister in the Prime Minister Department (Economy) Mustapha Mohamed on August 13,” MTUC secretary-general J. Solomon said in a statement today.

The master plan would be unproductive if it did not have relevant and effective legislation for the protection of workers as companies aggressively push for automation and digitalisation, he said.

“However, sadly, once again, the present government seems to have ignored the need to engage MTUC on the master plan before rolling it out.

“As such, the government seems to be emulating its predecessor by side-lining workers’ representatives mandated by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), in drawing up important policies and legislation which impacts on workers in Malaysia,” he said.

“To date, MTUC has not been contacted by the Human Resources Ministry or any other branch of the government to provide feedback or to discuss the fate of workers under the national master plan on digital economy.”

By ignoring the MTUC, the government has committed a serious dereliction of duty and undermined its own repeated assurances to ensure the welfare of workers, especially those in the B40 and M40 groups, he said.

He said PN would be accused of being a carbon copy of Pakatan Harapan for ignoring the voice of the workers.

The MTUC had similarly slammed the previous government for acting on its own and refusing to meet with it to discuss issues affecting the workers. – August 28, 2020.