KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) is against the Home Ministry's proposal to allow the hiring of illegal migrants under detention.
Congress secretary-general J.Solomon said the move is counter-productive and is at odds with the move by the Human Resources Ministry (MoHR) to freeze the recruitment of foreign workers.
On Monday, Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan announced a freeze on the recruitment of foreign workers until the end of the year in a move to free up jobs for Malaysians and reduce unemployment in the country.
"Overall, MTUC sees this as a positive move that will help to check Malaysia's over dependency on unskilled migrant labour and open the doors for a comprehensive review on the need to improve salaries and benefits to encourage Malaysians to take over jobs traditionally filled by foreigners," said Solomon in a statement today.
Sadly, he said on the same day, Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin announced another measure involving migrant labour, in that employers may be allowed to recruit illegal migrants held at Immigration detention centres.
The minister said the move would help reduce the number of illegal migrants in detention, which in turn would help the government save money for their upkeep.
"Hamzah's statement is reckless and counter-productive to the MoHR's efforts to reduce foreign workers and help reduce unemployment among Malaysians, a problem that is worsening due to the economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic."
In proposing to allow employers to hire workers from Immigration detention centres, the Home Ministry appears to be working in silo and is at odds with MoHR's policy to reduce the growing number of migrant workers in the country, Solomon said.
"Hamzah's proposal also shows that empowering two ministries for jurisdiction and responsibility over foreign workers has continued to result in ambigious policies and knee jerk measures which fails to stem the influx of illegal foreign workers or reduce Malaysia's over dependence on cheap unskilled migrant labour," he added.
He said government policies must focus on discouraging millions of foreigners from entering the country illegally to work, therefore reducing the massive outflow of funds from the country's shores annually and prod employers into offering better terms to hire Malaysians.
In any case, Solomon said the Home Ministry's proposal is neither practical nor fair as any offer to legalise must cover all undocumented workers, not just a select few.
"Every undocumented worker should have the right to be legalised. Otherwise we will be considered as discriminating foreign workers and once again make international headlines for the wrong reasons," he said.
Solomon said it is better for the government to focus on implementing the MoHR proposal to freeze the intake of foreign workers to address local unemployment and reduce the country's dependence on migrant labour.
"This policy by itself will not be effective if employers are allowed to hire foreigners who have been detained. Instead, attention should be centered on tighter enforcement to stop human trafficking rings from smuggling foreign workers into the country," he said.
In freezing the recruitment of foreign workers until year-end, he said the MoHR must do more to compel employers to woo Malaysian workers by offering decent wages and benefits.
"The government must not ignore the elephant in the room in wooing Malaysian workers to take up such jobs.
"Unless and until MoHR is able to convince employers to improve wages and benefits for these positions, any government campaign to encourage Malaysians to fill jobs traditionally held by migrants will not make much headway," he said.
Solomon further claimed that there have not been any noticeable or collective effort on the part of employers to offer better wages and perks to encourage Malaysians to replace migrant workers in blue collar jobs.
He said neither have employers
made any collected effort to push for automation which would provide opportunities for Malaysian workers to enhance their skills and command better wages.
"There has to be a clear political will from the government to push employers into this direction as well as pay fair and decent wages to Malaysians for blue collar jobs."
Solomon said at present, employers have a free hand to continue with the time and tested practice of hiring foreigners, legally or otherwise, on measly wages and in the process, suppress the salaries of Malaysians on their payroll.
"MTUC finds that many employers are reluctant even to offer the minimum wage of RM1,200 to foreign workers to keep their costs low and bottom line healthy. This is an area that the MoHR must tackle earnestly and honestly if it is serious in getting locals take over from migrant workers," he said.
Solomon said as things stand, Malaysia has about six million migrant workers in Malaysia with more than half of them undocumented. They remain as employers' first choice for hire unless there is government intervention to compel them to recruit local workers.
On Saravanan's remarks that 40,000 jobs will be created within six months for Malaysians made jobless because of the Covid-19 pandemic, he said the onus is on the government to ensure that these Malaysians do not get short-changed or exploited by employers looking to hire workers on the cheap.
"The MoHR's freeze on foreign workers recruitment must be balanced with the need to ensure local workers are given decent wages and benefits. Only by doing so, can the government gradually reduce its over dependence on migrant workers and stem the flow of illegal's into our shores".
Otherwise, he said the government might find itself in a position of being unable to provide the labour needed by the vital sectors of the economy because there are not enough migrant workers for jobs shunned by locals due to employers insistence to continue offering meagre salary and poor benefits.
Solomon said Malaysia needs a more holistic and sustainable foreign workers policy to reduce or curb its over dependence on foreign workers and ensure they are recruited legally, given fair wages and provided with decent accommodation as well as accorded the full protection of the law.