Saturday, December 23, 2017

MALAYSIA:::Bosses to pay levy for foreign workers starting January

 Effective Jan 1, employers nationwide are required to pay the levy for their foreign workers.
The human resources ministry in a statement here yesterday said all employers must pay the levy for new foreign workers as well as foreign workers who have renewed their temporary employment visit pass (PLKS).

Friday, December 15, 2017

MALAYSIA:::With new tech, EPF to drop withdrawal limits

Employees Provident Fund (EPF) members aged 55 and 60 will be able to withdraw any amount from their account whenever they wish, starting January 2018.
In a report by The Star, EPF chief executive officer Datuk Shahril Ridza Ridzuan reportedly said this new arrangement was made possible due to an upgrade in the fund’s system.

Saturday, December 9, 2017

MALAYSIA:::The impact of migrant maids in Malaysia

The inflow of the migrant workers to Malaysia is not a new or recent phenomenon as the demand for foreign maids has increased rapidly over the years.
Occasionally, there are incidents that happen. The issues of Malaysians abusing their maids more often than not appear in our news.
The media attention received by some of these abuse cases have shed light to the fact that the abusing of migrant domestic workers exist in Malaysian society.
Statistical data from 2010 shows the number of foreign workers in Malaysia has shown that the number of domestic workers coming from the region hail mainly from the surrounding regions with Indonesia leading the number with a total of 918,000 people, followed by Bangladesh (310,000 people) and Thailand with 15,000 people.
The influx of migrant workers, especially domestic workers into the country have had a positive impact.
Thousands of Malaysian women that previously were not able to leave their homes due to their families were now able to work, travel and many happened in due part to their domestic help.
Moreover, wages for migrant maids are generally lower than local maids, making it preferable for most to hire them over local domestic workers.
On the other hand, there are cases of domestic workers charged with stealing, abusing their employer's children.
Further, the outflow of the money from Malaysia will be increased because the migrant workers are from other countries and they will bring the money out of Malaysia to give to their families.
While there are positive impact of migrant domestic workers to the country and us, one must always make sure that the negative impact are negated in matters related to our children.
Of course, the domestic workers are a boon to the average housewife and the working women, but they must also beware of the negative aspects of it.

SOURCE

Friday, December 8, 2017

MTUC Sabah demands govt intervention over SFI layoffs

 The Malaysian Trades Union Congress Sabah Division is alarmed by the recent announcement by Sabah Forest Industries (SFI) to lay off 1,390 employees.
Its secretary Catherine Jikunan yesterday said MTUC Sabah was informed by its affiliate union, The Sabah Timber Industry Employees’ Union (Stieu) in Sipitang that 1,350 employees would be laid off by SFI.
She said another batch of workers who were still under probation would have their services terminated; thus the figure mentioned earlier would be higher than 1,390.
“MTUC Sabah demands that the state government urgently intervenes and solves the problems faced by the SFI workers.

Thursday, December 7, 2017

MALAYSIA::: MTUC concerned over EIS, retrenchment schemes

A trades union body today warned against using the Employment Insurance System (EIS) as an excuse to justify large-scale retrenchment.
The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) said it welcomed the government’s provision of RM122 million to the Social Security Organisation (Socso) to implement the EIS next year.
However, it also voiced concern over some 57,000 employees whom Socso CEO Mohammed Azman Aziz Mohammed said were expected to be retrenched.
“A total of 57,282 workers expected to be retrenched is worrying MTUC, and it does not correspond with the recent announcement of the government where our GDP is 6.2% and the economy of Malaysia is doing well,” MTUC secretary-general J Solomon said in a statement.
He also criticised the proposed payout of RM600 per month for a maximum of three months, saying the amount was too little to support one person, let alone a household.
“We are uncertain on what basis Socso suggested RM600, when even the minimum salary is RM920 for Sabah and Sarawak and RM1,000 in Peninsular Malaysia,” he said.
Solomon added that while MTUC welcomed the payout, it was not a gift but a reasonable payment to workers who had contributed to the system.




MALAYSIA:: This time, a trade union leader 'harassed'

A Bangladeshi trade union leader alleged that he was mistreated by the Malaysian immigration authorities at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), and was deported without showing any valid reason.
Tapan Saha, general secretary of the Textile Garments Workers' Federation of Bangladesh, flew to Malaysia on November 17 to attend the “Asian Transnational Corporation Monitoring Network 2017 Conference”, scheduled on November 17-21.