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| Reform labour laws, revive the unions
by A H Ponniah
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These qualities are not evident in the state of local unions and their effectiveness today. Malaysian workers are increasingly represented by in-house unions, hamstrung by legal restrictions and strict bureaucratic supervision inherited from colonial days. Peanuts or coconuts? Before and after Merdeka, labour unions have been forced to comply with restrictions and constraints in the hope that the situation would improve when the political system became more democratic. Yet suppressing unionism became the norm. Over and over again the government amended laws, each time to emasculate the unions in this country. One powerful piece of legislation prohibits trade unions from raising and using money for political purposes. Even the MTUC, which was formed after two post-war labour centres were banned, was meant to have no role in its affiliates� collective bargaining and to be scarcely able to obtain financial contributions from affiliates. Overall, the government has unreasonably limited trade union functions to mere matters of the relationship between workmen and employers. That is why our unions have become narrow in their outlook and too weak to influence national policies. The curbs on trade union activity were coupled with the extensive growth of in-house unions. In 1962, an International Labor Office (ILO) mission complained about Malaysia�s �peanut� unions. The ILO urged a policy of establishing �coconut� unions, that is, a move from having petty in-house unions to building national unions. In response, the MTUC urged that workers be represented by no more than 20 industrial unions. CUEPACS, a federation of public sector unions having more than 50 affiliates, applied for registration as a national union. However, the government ignored the ILO recommendation and rejected the local union�s moves. Worse, twenty years later, the government amended the laws so as explicitly to encourage in-house unions. Director of Unions Indeed the Trade Union Director�s office so actively promoted the �peanut� unions that, today, Malaysia�s total of 700,000 union members belong to 600 unions. The Trade Union Director and his officers are only too ready to register in-house unions. They believe they are thus promoting trade unionism. But strengthening unions is not their mission. And more unions mean more fragmentation and weaker unionism. The Trade Union Director�s office and his officers habitually behave as the custodians of unions. Bureaucrats empowered by law to do the government�s bidding, these officers can make life miserable for unions through their �supervision�. Were they to enforce all legal restrictions on all unions, many unions, already not properly established, and lacking in human resource support and professionalism, would hardly cope. No, Minister! No one expects the Human Resources Minister to provide ideas for strengthening labour rights and the labour movement. The Minister�s role has always been to keep the unions compliant, to control industrial action, and achieve what is called �industrial peace�. But, given draconian labour laws and stifling regulation, workers conduct their union activities within virtual prison walls. Hence, any claim of �industrial peace� reminds one of the kind of �100% vote� claimed by a dictator in an election with only one candidate! Government and businesses are constantly encouraged to reform and merge to strengthen their operational capacity and global competitiveness. But merging trade unions into strong national unions? Never! Never has the Human Resource Minister committed himself to honouring unions for safeguarding and promoting the rights of labour � critical to human rights everywhere. No, one can scrutinize the Minister�s speeches and announcements for statistics but never genuine calls to strengthen the national labour movement. So, Minister?
If the Minister, and his government, are committed to having better labour relations, higher productivity, quality services, national unity, they should make room in national policy-making for direct inputs from labour. They should forget the National Labour Advisory Council which, directly involving employers, is no forum to explore reforms that benefit labour. (Employers shouldn�t determine the type of unions workers can have. Otherwise, they should allow workers to tell them what kinds of companies and organizations employers can form.) But the government must amend existing labour laws and labour policies that repress the growth of strong and responsible unions. It is short-sighted for the government to ignore reforms of labour laws and policies until or unless we meet with crises. Workers' presence in Parliament In fact, only a strong labour presence in Parliament can effect policy changes friendly to labour. But it has yet to materialize. Union leaders have individually been involved in politics but to no great success, among other things, because of the racial politics that contradicts trade union principles. While unions cannot engage in such politics, workers, like other citizens, are trapped in it. The task before the unions is to foster workers� solidarity by education. But union-based education suffers from legal restrictions and funding, and reaches only 1% of workers. Union activists and leaders are a minority who developed their commitments to union principles through personal contact and exposure. It is here that the MTUC must play an active remedial role. The MTUC�s basic responsibility is to provide umbrella protection to unions and workers. The MTUC supports industrial action taken by workers and MTUC affiliates, assists unions in collective bargaining, and brings important individual cases to the industrial court. Other MTUC activities cover education, information and networking on issues that concern both the local and international union movement. But the MTUC has been worn out by failures and factionalism. The latter has been especially damaging as the entry of more and more in-house unions has resulted in heightened jostling for positions of leadership. The MTUC doesn�t need this kind of politics either. The MTUC must devote greater effort to mobilizing labour on a wide range of socio-political issues. These concerns actually lie within the ambit of the MTUC�s constitution and declared objectives. But until unions can expand their educational programmes and politics based on union principles, the majority of our workers will remain mere passengers in development, subjected to constant mass media praise for labour laws and policies, praise that is often echoed by opportunistic labour leaders. Meeting the future The time for renewal of the unions is now. Globalisation, with the World Trade Organization�s new trade and financial instruments, endorsed by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, are forcing unions to defend their members� livelihood and standards of living. Many unions have merged in the western countries to cope with neoliberal pro-market reforms, and changed their ideological stances to safeguard their members� employment and interests and to push for labour unity. With the end of the Cold War, they lost the support they used to get from their own governments for cooperating with union movements in developing countries. In this situation, unions in developing countries face many difficulties. Poor in resources, and weak in organisation, they can�t effectively join campaigns to promote workers� rights around the world. Likewise, Malaysian unions find it difficult to respond to the adverse impact of new trade agreements, pro-market business reforms and government initiatives on domestic economies and workers. What must MTUC do? First, the MTUC must strengthen itself. The MTUC must campaign to reform labour laws and tackle the proliferation of localized in-house unions that combine to weaken the national labour movement. Without pressures on the government to reform its labour laws and policies, and without greater professionalism and resources, the national union movement will lack strength and solidarity. Second, unions must be politically active to influence policies and secure much needed reforms. Here, the MTUC leaders must distance themselves from the divisive politics of race-based parties and not debase fundamental trade union principles and the goal of workers� solidarity. In dialogue with the government and non-racial political parties, the MTUC must reject the frequent attempts to link labour issues with communal interests. With proper organizational and funding support, the MTUC should intensify and deepen union-based programmes of political education inspired by trade union values. Free and self-managed The labour movement must in turn curb the Trade Union Director�s role and influence. The Director�s office should only assist unions in such matters as training internal auditors, scrutinisers and arbitrators who serve the unions. Beyond that, workers can supervise their own unions and find checks and balances within their own organizations without rigid bureaucratic regulation. The industrial relations scene will improve if the government ends its biases against national unions. The management of industrial relations should provide space and freedom for unions to develop into genuine partners in development decision-making aimed at maintaining healthy labour-management relations. More than that, our national unions should be helped to consolidate their status in international forums. Only when our national unions can knowledgeably and truly represent the interests of their members, will they be able to influence international agendas affecting the universal rights of workers. Almost 50 years after Merdeka, the government must discard its archaic and prejudiced attitudes towards workers� rights and the labour movement. If the government is sincere about transforming this society into a �First World� society, it must stop treating the national labour movement as a �Third World� movement.
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The MTUC must campaign to reform labour laws and tackle the proliferation of localized in-house unions that combine to weaken the national labour movement.
