Malaysians should receive priority for employment in all sectors instead of more and more foreigners being brought to work here, a labour activist said today.
The Penang secretary of the Malaysian Trades Union Congress, R Veeriah, said the government and employers should stop being dependent on foreign workers.
He suggested that better salary packages be paid to attract Malaysians to work in areas now dominated by foreign manpower.
“MTUC’s stand has always been to reduce the country’s dependence on foreign labour. We want employers to hire Malaysia to do the job. We always want employers to give better wages and other better benefits to Malaysians,” Veeriah said.
The federal government has plans to bring in 1.5 million additional workers from Bangladesh over the next three years. Employers have justified their need for foreign workers to carry out the 3D jobs – dirty, dangerous and difficult – shunned by Malaysians.
Veeriah argued that adding 1.5 million Bangladeshis to six million legal and illegal foreign workers already present would create more social problems, creating more pressure on housing, public health care, and suppressed wages.
The number of foreign workforce was already equal to the seven million Malaysians in the labour force, he said.
More low value and unskilled jobs would only result in low value added economic gains, he said, and would cage the country in a lower income bracket.
“Pushing up wages could attract locals to take up jobs now being done by immigrants. It will boost the country’s drive to attain developed nation status,” he said.
source:::http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com
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