IMPROVING WORK CONDITIONS THE ONLY WAY TO ATTRACT MALAYSIANS

PETALING JAYA (Malaysia), July 22 (Bernama)-- The Malaysian Trades Union
Congress (MTUC) Wednesday called on both the government and employers to be
serious in improving the work conditions in the plantation, construction and
manufacturing sectors to attract locals.

"It is not enough to just recognise the need to improve. Concrete steps
are needed to bring about changes in the work conditions in these sectors," its
vice-president, A. Balasubramaniam, told Bernama.

The first step was to introduce a minimum monthly wage of RM900 in these
sectors, he said, adding that the current rate of about RM600 a month
insufficient to attract locals.

"Besides, the work environment, leave entitlement, medical facilities and
promotional prospects should also be given due cognisance," he said.

A recent MTUC survey had shown that many local unskilled workers preferred
to work as casual labourers rather than permanent staff because of low wages and
poor work conditions, he added.

Employers, he said, often found an easy way out by employing foreigners.

There were now about 2.1 million foreign workers in the country and the
government was targeting to reduce this progressively over the years with its
policy to "provide employment to Malaysian first.

It had also frozen the importation of workers from Bangladesh, he added.

Balasubramaniam also said that the MTUC was not happy with the high number
of outsourcing companies dealing in foreign labour.

He said one of the recommendations at a 2007 tripartite seminar organised by
the Human Resources Ministry was to reduce the number of outsourcing companies
which then stood at 226 but instead the number had increase to 276 now.

"This is worrying and we are not sure whether the government and employers
were really serious about reducing foreign labour," he added.

-- BERNAMA