KUCHING: The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) will publish a series of “log books” or report cards on the country’s lack of progress in fulfilling workers’ rights.
The union said it would begin the programme, which would comprise press conferences and issuing statements, in the coming weeks, to capitalise on the run-up to the Sarawak election.
The congress’ Sarawak secretary Andrew Lo said the log books would highlight lopsided policies like the Sarawak Labour Ordinance, which he said contained exemptions in favour of big businesses.
He cited factors like overtime pay in the timber industry as concerns MTUC would bring up.
“However, it must be made very clear MTUC is an apolitical organisation. The congress does not take sides. Our members support any politician or political party willing to upgrade workers’ rights,” Lo said yesterday, adding that a large part of the reports would focus on matters in rural areas.
“It is very disappointing that many elected rural representatives have not done enough.
“This has left MTUC, a small organisation with limited resources, to take up the issues.”
In Sarawak, there are about 16,000 MTUC members.
“When you add up our family members, we are actually a very influential group,” he said.
Lo said it was high time the government paid more attention to ensuring its goal of creating a high-income nation was realised fairly.
He said economic wealth must evenly distributed, and that required better legislation.
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