Sarawak Mtuc Regrets East Malaysia Workers Left Out Of Labour Amendments

---

Sarawak MTUC has called on the federal government to revise the labour ordinances in Sarawak and Sabah to reflect all of the amendments made so far to the Employment Act 1955 (EA), as workers there are being left out from receiving benefits from the amendments.
Its secretary Andrew Lo said in a statement that the main amendment in the EA (Amendment) Bill 2021 tabled in the Dewan Rakyat on Monday was to extend the application of the Act to all employees regardless of their wage bracket except for workers in Sabah and Sarawak.
“While we are pleased that workers in West Malaysia will get the eagerly awaited better benefits, we regret that workers in Sabah and Sarawak will be left out as the EA did not cover the two states,” he lamented.
Lo (above) explained that worker rights in the two states were governed by separate labour ordinances - the Sabah Chapter 67 and Sarawak Chapter 76 (SLOs). These are federal legislation that needs to be amended in Parliament.
He demanded that SLOs be on the same level as the EA by the next Parliament session.
“Since it has been proven time and again that having separate labour ordinances has resulted in workers in Sabah and Sarawak being left behind, we demand that the SLOs be at par with the EA or extend the EA to Sarawak,” he said.
‘SLOs hopelessly antiquated’
Lo pointed out that there had been several amendments to the EA over the years but none of which were introduced into the SLOs for the benefit of workers in the two states.
“The SLOs are hopelessly antiquated as even the previous improvements to the EA 14 years ago in 2008 have yet to be incorporated.
“We don’t even have provisions which address sexual harassment and part-time workers’ rights, which are already in the existing EA.
“The Sarawak premier has proudly claimed that he wanted the state to lead the country in economic development, but we must ensure that we lead in labour standards as well,” he added.
Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Lim Ban HongIn October last year, Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Lim Ban Hong revealed that the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) said amendments were being made to several acts as part of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) ratification process.
They included amendments to the main labour laws including the EA which has passed the final reading in the lower house, the Trade Unions Act 1959 which went through the first reading this week, and the SLOs that have not been tabled.
However, Lim did not indicate when the SLOs would be tabled but informed Parliament last October that amendments to the acts were necessary to complete the RCEP ratification process. - Mkini

---