MTUC CALLS FOR FOREIGN MAIDS UNION

PETALING JAYA (Malaysia), April 23 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Trades Union
Congress (MTUC) Thursday reiterated its call to the government to allow foreign
maids to form a union or at least an association to protect their interests.

Its secretary-general, G. Rajasegaran, told a press conference here, that
the 300,000 maids in Malaysia, unlike in neighbouring countries, were not
protected by any legislation.

"They are not even covered under the Employment Act 1955 and as such they
are open to exploitation by errant employers," he said.

He said it was only after almost 60 years that the International Labour
Organisation (ILO) was taking steps to adopt a convention to safeguard this
group of workers who were deemed "most vulnerable" from further exploitation.

He explained that the one-day national consultation on the International
Labour Organisation's decent work agenda for domestic workers organised jointly
by the MTUC and the non-governmental organisation, Tenaganita, was aimed at
gathering information to draw up the convention.

He added that the other objective of the consultation was to mobilise
support of the government, and the governments of countries whose citizens are
here as domestic workers, to support the convention when it comes up for
deliberation at the ILO conference in Geneva.

Rajasegaran said while waiting for the convention, Malaysia could affirm its
commitment to the welfare of the domestic workers by making it compulsory for
employers to give at least one day off each week to the maids.

Tenaganita director, Irene Fernandez, told the press that Tenaganita
was receiving numerous reports from maids on abuse by employers.

She pointed out that Malaysia had just passed the Anti-Trafficking in
Persons Act 2007 which safeguarded against human trafficking for purposes of
labour exploitation.

Yet, she added, it was all too common to discover domestic workers in
the situation of being trafficked for labour exploitation and forced labour.
-- BERNAMA