MALAYSIA:::MTUC: Employees expectations are justified

PETALING JAYA: Employees expectations of bonuses and salary increments are justified in view of the “skyrocketing” cost of living, said the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC).

Its secretary-general N. Gopal Krishnan said employee productivity had improved by 6.7% over the last 10 years while wages during the same period had only risen by 2.1%.

“It is legitimate for employees to expect to be rewarded for their hard work. They are merely seeking to continue the lifestyle they are accustomed to,” he said when contacted yesterday.

Although there

MALAYSIA:::Work permit extended for 300,000

PUTRAJAYA: The government has agreed to extend the temporary work permits for more than 300,000 foreign workers, registered under the 6P programme, for a year with immediate effect.

Home Ministry acting secretary-general Datuk Alwi Ibrahim said the decision came after the government had weighed what the impact of a sudden decrease in the workforce would have on the economy and to give time to employers to find replacement workers.

MALAYSIA:::Hukuman berat kes fitnah siber

KERATAN akhbar muka depan BH semalam mengenai fitnah alam maya.

KUALA LUMPUR: Suruhanjaya Komunikasi dan Multimedia Malaysia (SKMM) mencadangkan pesalah siber dikenakan hukuman penjara mandatori sekurang-kurangnya tiga tahun dan sebat, bagi menangani kes fitnah alam maya yang semakin membimbangkan.

Cadangan itu sudah dikemukakan kepada Jabatan Peguam Negara selepas suruhanjaya berkenaan mengakui hukuman setahun penjara atau denda RM50,000 ke atas mereka yang disabit kesalahan mengikut Seksyen 211 dan Seksyen 233 Akta Komunikasi dan Multimedia 1998, tidak memadai.

STATEMENT BY UNITED NATIONS EXPERT ON INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY COMMEMORATING INTERNATIONAL HUMAN SOLIDARITY DAY

“Moving Together as One: Solidarity as the Foundation of the United Nations Development Agenda beyond 2015”

18 December 2014

GENEVA (18 December 2014) – Following is a message by the United Nations Independent Expert on Human Rights and International Solidarity, Virginia Dandan, to mark the International Human Solidarity Day, which will be commemorated on  20 December 2014.

“International Human Solidarity Day, launched in 2006, celebrates humankind, its courage and its enduring capacity to prevail despite all odds. The United Nations Development framework, as articulated in the UN world conferences and summits since the 1990s, is itself rooted in principles of international solidarity. 

UN member States are once again negotiating a new sustainable development agenda which will likely include the creation of measureable Sustainable Development Goals. World leaders have one year to seize that unique opportunity to re-imagine and create a global dynamic where people are at the centre of development in order to end poverty in all its forms. ‘We, the peoples of the United Nations,’ must unite as a global community, calling on our governments to ensure that the processes and outcomes of the new agenda, are consistent with international human rights standards and norms, to be enjoyed by all, and leave no one behind*. 

EDUCATION:::THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION'S FUNDAMENTAL CONVENTIONS.

THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION'S FUNDAMENTAL CONVENTIONS.

MALAYSIA/INDONESIA:::Indonesia mulling repatriation of undocumented workers in Malaysia, other countries

According to Nusron, 1.8 million of the 6.2 million Indonesians who are working abroad do not hold work permits, with the vast majority of the group mostly based in Malaysia.

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 19 — An Indonesian agency is planning to repatriate an estimated 

1.8 million of its citizens who are believed to be working illegally in several countries abroad,

 with a majority of them in Malaysia.

Nusron Wahid, who heads Indonesia’s migrant worker protection agency, said that several 

ministries will be roped in to aid the process.

“There will be a discussion on bringing back 1.8 million illegal migrant workers who do not

 have a work contract, and we will use the state budget to do it,” the Agency for the 

Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BNP2TKI)’s head was quoted 

saying in a report today by Jakarta Globe.

EDUCATION:::Negotiating for Productivity & Productivity linked Wage Agreements: issues for unions - ACTRAV-ILO

Negotiating for Productivity & Productivity linked Wage Agreements: issues for unions - ACTRAV-ILO

EDUCATION:::Negotiating Decent Wage New - ACTRAV-ILO

Negotiating Decent Wage New - ACTRAV-ILO

SINGAPORE:::Unscrupulous lawyers targeting migrant workers, say NGOs

TODAY reports: Migrant worker groups have alleged that the costly services provided by these lawyers are unnecessary and not always in the workers’ best interests.

SINGAPORE: Migrant worker groups here have raised concerns about lawyers who take advantage of ignorant and illiterate workers seeking to claim compensation for workplace injuries, alleging the costly services provided by these lawyers are unnecessary and not always in the workers’ best interests.

MALAYSIA:::MTUC:::Kenyataan Akhbar COLA bagi sektor swasta perlu diwajibkan

MTUC kecewa dengan jawapan yang diberikan oleh Timbalan Menteri Datuk  Seri Ismail Abd Muttalib dalam menjawab pertanyaan Senator Datuk Jamilah yang menyatakan bahawa COLA tidak akan diwajibkan bagi pekerja-pekerja dalam sektor swasta seperti yang diberikan kepada pekerja-pekerja dalam sektor awam.

Kerajaan pernah mengambil pendekatan yang sama dalam menetapkan gaji minimum untuk tempoh masa yang panjang dengan menyerahkan kepada pasaran untuk menentukan kadar gaji minimum bagi sektor swasta. Selepas dua dekad barulah kerajaan menyedari hakikat bahawa pasaran gagal untuk menetapkan gaji minimum yang wajar kepada pekerja dalam sektor swasta dan kini mengiktiraf gaji minimum.

Dalam memperkatakan gaji minimum sememang gaji minimum berada dibawah penstrukturan dimana kebanyakkan majikan menjumlahkan semua elaun kedalam pengiraan gaji minimum bagi mencapai RM900. Walaupun gaji minimum telah diwartakan namun ia telah disalah terjemahkan oleh majikan sehingga tidak memberi makna kerana tiada pemantauan yang menyeluruh dilakukan.

Cambodia:::Gov’t Launches Three-Year Roadmap on Migrant Labor Policy

The Labor Ministry on Thursday launched a new three-year policy for improving the lot of Cambodia’s more than 700,000 migrant workers that includes plans to step up monitoring of the country’s often-abusive recruitment agencies and add labor attachés to more embassies.

Released to coincide with International Migration Day, the Labor Migration Policy for Cambodia 2015-2018 updates the five-year plan launched in 2010.

Nilim Baruah, a senior migration specialist for the International Labor Organization (ILO), which helped draft both policies, said the new plan largely focuses the government’s attention on putting into practice the rules and regulations drawn up as a result of the first strategy.

Cambodian garment makers, ILO sign deal to abolish child labour

Cambodian garment makers, ILO sign deal to abolish child labour

PHNOM PENH, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- The International Labour Organization's Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) and the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) signed an agreement on Thursday to jointly eliminate child labour in the garment industry.

The deal was inked between BFC's acting program manager Janika Simon and GMAC's president Van Sou Ieng under the presence of Cambodian labour minister Ith Samheng.

Tanzania: ILO Avails Grant to Empower Youth

THE International Labour Organisation (ILO) has availed 25,000 US dollar (approximately 43.8m/-) grant to support youth groups start projects on biogas and alternative energy.

This was revealed during a six-day training organized by UN-Habitat in collaboration with VETA among others, aimed at supporting youth to come up with proper project write ups intended to increase use of renewable energy and biogas.

Speaking during the closing of the training, attended by youth from Dar es Salaam, ILO representative, Jealous Chirove said the funds will be issued to groups with impressive business project write ups.

MALAYSIA:::Proposal For Indonesian Worker Salary To Be Credited Into Bank Account

Photo: www.malaysia-chronicle.comPUTRAJAYA, Dec 18  -- The Home Ministry (KDN) has proposed that the employer credit the salary of his Indonesian worker into a bank account to avoid fraud.

The proposal was discussed by Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Indonesian Manpower Minister Hanif Dhakiri during the latter's courtesy call at KDN, here today.

Zahid proposed that banks in Indonesia and Malaysia cooperate so that the proposal could be implemented.

"If the salary is given in cash, some employers may cheat by not paying the employees. Indonesian workers can open bank accounts using the foreign worker identity card or i-Card.

"The transaction will be done online thus facilitating the delivery of money to the workers families in the villages," he told a press conference.

Zahid said Hanif's visit was on the order of Indonesian President Joko Widodo so that all Indonesians without valid travel documents are deported home.

"The Indonesian government does not want t