The low degree of unionisation among migrant workers is due to threats from employers, claimed the Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC) in a Free Malaysia Today report.

According to MTUC secretary-general J Solomon (photo above), less than three percent or just about 50,000 of the 2.2 million documented migrant workers in the country belong to a union.

This is notwithstanding the estimated four million undocumented migrant workers.

During a roundtable discussion on migrant workers and labour unions yesterday, Solomon explained that employers often coerced and threatened their employees against joining unions or risk losing their jobs and being sent home.

Some employers continued to withhold passports of their employees, he added. Doing so is an infringement of the Passport Act 1966.

This, Solomon said, was due to lax enforcement.

“Enforcement should be tightened. No point coming up with laws when enforcement is not done.

“Right now, it says migrant workers can join unions. But the government is aware that some employers are forcing workers not to join,” Solomon was quoted as saying.

The article also included a comment from NGO The Solidarity Centre’s country director David John Welsh, who similarly commented that regulations alone were not enough.

That is even if the regulations were compliant with the regulations stated by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

“Looking around the (Southeast Asia) region, the laws are all compliant with ILO conventions. They look great on paper and seem like they are promoting workers’ rights, but there’s no rule of law, or limited rule of law, across the region.

“The laws aren’t applied [...]

“So governments can go to stakeholders, companies and the international community and say, ‘Look, our laws are in line with what your laws are; our laws are in line with what the ILO has set,” Welsh said.

To enable a more targeted approach, Solomon proposed that all migrant worker-related issues be transferred from the Home Ministry to the Human Resources Ministry.

MACC chief Latheefa Koya has supported such a call in a bid to combat rampant corruption in the sector.