LABOUR BULLETIN : 12/21/14

Sunday, December 21, 2014

INDIA:::India raises concern on employment, social protection in South Asia

New Delhi, Dec.20 (ANI): The Institute of Human Development organized an international conference here on "Meeting the Challenges of Employment and Social Protection in South Asia" in collaboration with International Labour Organization (ILO) United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Canada in New Delhi.

The conference was attended by specialists, professors and researchers of international organizations from Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.

Selain siksa 3 pembantu, majikan juga ogah bayar gaji mereka

Bukan hanya disiksa, tiga pembantu rumah tangga (PRT) Yani Mulyaningsih (39), Casti (49), dan Resti (19), ternyata juga belum di gaji berbulan-bulan oleh sang majikan, Punam (53).

Casti menceritakan, awal mula dirinya bersedia jadi PRT di rumah Punam di Jalan Agung Indah 1, Sunter Agung, Tanjung Priok, Jakarta Utara, lantaran dijanjikan gaji Rp 1 juta per bulan.

Namun nahas baginya, janji tinggal janji, bukannya haknya dipenuhi justru dirinya mendapat perlakuan kasar bahkan tidak digaji selama dirinya bekerja.

While most people are aware of what EPF is, SOCSO seems to be less popular in terms of awareness and familiarity. You may realize that a portion of your monthly income is allocated for SOCSO from both employers and employees but what is it really that you are paying for?

Let’s take a look at how SOCSO is relevant to the public at large.

1. Benefits of SOCSO

SOCSO was incorporated to provide assistance both medically and financially to employees that have had their abilities reduced or incapacitated due to accidents or diseases. They also provide assistance to the dependants of employees if they die through pensions.

The benefits under this scheme is divided into the Employment Injury Scheme and the Invalidity Pension Scheme

Firemen pull five workers out of smoke-filled building

Firemen assisting one of the workers who was pulled out of the smoke-filled building.

KUALA LUMPUR - Rescuers pulled out five workers out of a high-rise construction site enveloped in smoke along the Federal Highway, after a fire broke out in the building's basement.

Fire razed the basement of the planned service apartment in Persimpangan Taman Desa at about 4.30pm Sunday.

The place was being used to house over 500 foreign workers in makeshift wooden squatters, said the KL Fire and Rescue Department.

No one was killed in the massive fire as all the occupants were working in various parts of the 30-storey building at the time, said operations commander Imam Bukhari Susami.

Withholding passports illegal, Govt warns

Malaysia Minister of Home Affairs Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (L) shakes hands with Assistant Secretary for Policy of the Department of Homeland Security of the United States Alan Bersin

In a bid to curb human trafficking, the Home Affairs Ministry is engaging all stakeholders while stepping up enforcement on those who exploit foreign workers by withholding their travel documents. This is due to the fact that it is one of the indicators that could lead to labour exploitation or forced labour.

Malaysia is "going all out" to prevent human trafficking and one of the significant steps would include protecting foreign workers who come here to earn an honest living.

The Home Affairs Ministry will take a holistic approach and engage all the related ministries, non-governmental organisations (NGO), private sector and individual employers to achieve these objectives, its minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told Sunday Star.

PETALING JAYA: Despite the one-year extension to the 6P programme for foreign workers, employers associations are kicking up a fuss and are urging the Government to allow the 352,000 affected workers to work in Malaysia for up to 10 more years.

Prior to the extension, these workers are to leave the country in stages with 120,000 to depart next month.

Saying that any sudden exodus of workers would badly hit the construction and plantation industries, they said the policy of limiting the working period of the foreign workers might result in Malaysia turning into a training ground for low-skilled foreign workers.

BY BARRY DESKER FOR THE STRAITS TIMES

As we move towards 2015 and our 50th year of Independence, there will be a flurry of books and articles recalling the challenges overcome since 1965 and the destiny which awaits Singapore. The bigger surprise has been the number of efforts at crystal-ball gazing, attempting to look 10, 25, and even 50 years into the future.

What is striking is how much our imaginations are prisoners of the present. Even though we want to look beyond today and aim to conceive of a world which will unfold in the years ahead, we are shaped by our experiences. Linear projections are common. We struggle to grapple with the possibility of discontinuities, of changes which break existing moulds.

KUALA LUMPUR - Puteri Umno mengecam tindakan sebuah kedai permainan terkemuka di ibu negara yang bersikap diskriminasi terhadap pekerja wanita bertudung.

Ketuanya, Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin berkata, tindakan kedai permainan itu menunjukkan masih terdapat golongan berfikiran sempit terhadap mereka yang memakai tudung dan ia bertentangan dengan hak asasi seorang Muslim.