KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) has urged the government to introduce an Emergency Employment Regulation to make retrenchment illegal for a stipulated period of time.
Its secretary general, J. Solomon, said this could be the immediate solution to employees’ worries as they are not directly covered by any of the government’s rescue plans for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
He said employees are currently at the complete mercy of their employers, and would be a priority target for layoffs or wage cuts to reduce overheads.
“(Despite) the government’s initiatives to avoid mass retrenchment, it remains a stark possibility for workers earning between RM4,000 and RM8,000.
“MTUC, therefore, strongly urges the government to ensure the wage subsidy scheme does not preclude these workers,” he said.
He urged the government to not disregard workers as they are caught between a rock and a hard place due to the cost of living and their salaries, which are hardly enough to sustain their families.
He said salary cuts or any job losses would be catastrophic for them in every aspect.
Solomon said the Union appreciates the government’s effort in introducing its Prihatin Package for SMEs (Additional Measures) to help SMEs mitigate the economic downturn caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, he said, the second stimulus package has failed to adequately protect workers who are in dire need of keeping their jobs safe.
Referring to the government’s move to increase the allocation for wage subsidies to almost RM14 billion from RM8 billion, Solomon said it only covers employees who earn RM4,000 or less monthly.
“The government has once again passed up the chance to address the plight of workers earning between RM4,000 and RM8,000.
“They form between 30 and 40 per cent of SMEs’ workforce. They risk being laid off by employers, who, on the contrary, have now received billions of ringgit in two stimulus packages in less than a month,” he said.
Solomon said while MTUC appreciates the RM1,000 one-off hand-out under the Prihatin package, the amount would hardly sustain workers beyond two weeks or so.
He said what employees urgently require is a firm commitment from government and employers that their jobs are safe.
He said the Union is worried about the workers’ fate if the government does not step in with enforceable laws to prevent layoffs.
So far, Solomon said the MTUC received about 300 complaints from Malaysian workers who were forced or ‘persuaded’ by employers to go on unpaid leave or take pay cuts.
“All this happened just after three weeks of enforcing the Movement Control Order (MCO).
“The complaints mostly involve workers in industries of sole proprietorship and family owned businesses, while others are from the services industry. We believe the complaints are just the tip of iceberg and will increase in time,” he said.
He added that the Union is alarmed by another ‘gift’ from the government to SMEs – that employers can renegotiate their employment contract with workers, including an option for salary deductions and unpaid leave during the MCO.
He said this is clearly detrimental to the interests of workers who now risk wage cuts to their already smaller salary due to the MCO, which has denied them overtime and allowances.
“With the likelihood of the MCO being extended again, these workers will clearly suffer and be hard-pressed to sustain themselves and their families.
“Giving employers leeway to rewrite job contracts at this point in time will have dire consequences on the survival of the employees,” he said.
Solomon also urged the government to revoke its greenlight for employers to review employment contracts and instead urged that the contracts are complied with.
He said workers should not be an easy target in reducing costs while employers benefit from government assistance during bad times and dish out low wages to workers during the good years.
He added that the onus is now on SMEs to keep their businesses afloat and protect the jobs of their workers.