The construction industry is hard hit by the government's policy to reduce illegal immigrants because employers had knowingly taken a risk in hiring undocumented workers to cut costs, said a construction worker's union today.

The Executive Secretary of the Union of Employees in Construction Industry (UECI), S Santhanasamy, said employers had taken "maximum advantage" of the lax enforcement against illegal workers because they did not have to pay any benefits to these workers.

"Although wages may be the same, there are other benefits that should be given such as public holidays, off days and Socso contribution," said Santhanasamy of the benefits that should add another RM200 to RM300 per employee.

Because of this, he added, neither the government or workers should be blamed for any delay in the completion of projects.

"It clearly shows that those who hired illegal workers had made the wrong calculations by taking a chance. So it is a gamble they took and the price they have to pay is heavy," he said when contacted.

Prior to the crackdown on illegal immigrants, the construction sector was estimated to have employed at least 350,000 illegal workers, comprising 70 percent of the total foreign workforce in the industry.

Santahanasamy also took exception to frequent references to alleged unwillingness of local workers to take on these labour intensive jobs.

The union leader said locals are reluctant to take on these jobs because of the low pay and conditions of service offered to workers.

"It is untrue that local workers take two or three days off after working a few days. No one can do something like this. For the past 15 years, local workers built this country before there were foreign workers," Santhanasamy said.

Job seekers overlooked

He added that the widespread employment of illegal workers had instead hampered the structuring of local wages and affected the ability of the union to organise workers effectively.

According to the union leader, there are many workers in east coast states such as Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang who are seeking jobs but overlooked by employers.

"Have we made any assessment on the number of vacancies available in the industry as a whole, the number of projects in hand and the categories of workers needed? Have employers made requests to the human resources ministry to seek assistance in recruiting local workers?" he asked.

Meanwhile, Santhanasamy said the 2000-strong UECI is not opposed to employment of properly documented foreign workers.

"If they are properly documented, they can come to us (the union) if they have any complaints and we can take up their issues," the union leader said.

According to him, illegal workers who were unprotected by the law had to subject to much suffering especially when there were raids by enforcement authorities.

"Every time there is a raid, they are running here and there (to avoid arrest). Some hurt themselves while trying to run away," claimed Santhanasamy.

Masters Builders Association Malaysia (MBAM), an organisation representing the construction and services sector, could not be reached for comments.