PUTRAJAYA: The Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) and the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) have agreed in principle for the setting up of “a safety net” for retrenched workers in the country.
            Human Resource Minister Datuk Seri Dr Fong Chan Onn, in announcing this Thursday, said the two organizations at the National Labour Action Concil (NLAC) meeting at the Ministry Thursday morning came to the consensus that there was a need for a safety-net for retrenched workers in the country.
            “The NLAC also came to the conclusion that there is a need for amendments to the country’s labour laws to be place in the dynamic labour market.
            There is a general feeling that current laws are not flexible enough to allow businesses to flourish, especially in terms of workforce,” he told reporters before the Ministry’s Hari Raya and Deepavali celebrations.
            He said the Ministry had sent a team of officials, which included representatives from the MEF and MTUC, to the United Kingdom and Australia to observe the changes in the labour ordinance of these two countries.
            He said workers in these two nations had a safety net to look after workers who had been retrenched or were unable to perform their duties due to other reasons.
            He said the Human Resources Ministry had set up a special committee, headed by the Ministry’s secretary general Datuk Thomas George, to examine the changes needed to existing labour laws to pave way for the setting up of such a safety net for workers.
            “Although the Social Security Organisation (SOCSO) covers this area but it is not comprehensive as it does not look at workers who are retrenched.
            The special committee will look at various aspects of the safety net and come out with proposals,” said Fong.
            He said the NLAC was of the view that retrenched workers needed to be paid unemployment allowances and that this be borne by employers.
            “There are ideas how this safety net should be, but it is up to both parties, MEF and MTUC, to agree on the proposals. It should be like a retrenchment and compensation scheme,” he said.
            He said another issue which would be looked into by this committee was the setting up of a labour arbitration tribunal as it had been found that the present system using Industrial Courts to settle labour disputes took time and were cumbersome for the affected parties, especially workers.
            “We have found that going through Industrial Courts took a lot of time and workers cannot tolerate this long period before a verdict is reached.
            The present system also allows parties to appeal the Industrial Court decision to the High Court and this leads to even a longer period of waiting time,” said Fong.
            On another note, the Minister said the MEF and MTUC had also at the NLAC meeting agreed to promote productivity linked wage system in an effort to better the nation’s workforce. – Bernama.