A multinational electronics company has denied the accusation that it breached the law by utilising outsourcing agents to employ foreign workers.
However, according to the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC), passports of foreign workers employed by the said company were being held by the outsourcing agents, which led to the arrest of one such worker.
In making the claim, MTUC Selangor division chairperson Wan Noorul Azhar Mohd Hanafiah (left) told Malaysiakini that although working contracts are from the company, workers’ affairs are handed to the agents to be handled.
The situation involves 200 foreign workers, a majority of them from countries such as Nepal, Myanmar and Indonesia.
“Since they don’t hold their passports, these workers are at a high risk of getting caught by the police.
“Currently, one has been caught and is still in the lock-up,” he said.
Initially placed at the Bandar Baru Klang police station, the foreign worker in question was transferred to the Section 9 Shah Alam police station.
A check with the Section 9 Shah Alam police station confirmed she was arrested on July 6.
Deputy Home Minister Wan Junaidi Wan Jaafar (left) had last year confirmed that the government has terminated the services of outsourcing companies due to complaints of workers’ rights abuses.
Noorul Azhar, meanwhile, said that in the case of this particular company, the agents not only held on to workers’ permits and passports, they were also paying the workers’ salaries.
He claimed that these workers were not awarded any bonuses.
“Since they are absorbed into the main company, they should get the same benefits as the other employees,” said Noorul Azhar.
He added that outsourcing agents were also no longer permitted to handle the renewal of a foreign worker’s permit, as the Labour Department had abolished any form of outsourcing in 2012.
“Existing contracts are allowed to continue until it expires, but they cannot be renewed (by agents),” he said.
Malaysiakini has contacted the company involved and it has denied the allegation that it utilises the services of an outsourcing agent.
The company, however, declined comment further.
Meanwhile, a staff of one of the outsourcing agencies, when contacted, confirmed it was responsible for the handling of some of the foreign workers for the electronics company.
She, too, declined to elaborate further.
Source: http://www.malaysiakini.com
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