Strong and effective unions are a prerequisite for the nation to achieve high-income-nation status, according to the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC).

mtuc bangladesh worker pc 190309 sec gen g rajasegaran Its secretary-general, G Rajasegaran ( left ), said today the banking industry was a good example, with its high rate of unionisation has led to all employees, including executives, being covered by collective agreements.

Because of this, productivity and profits were also among the highest in the banking sector, he told Bernama .

Rajasegaran said the banking industry had also shown that by investng in technology and effective human resource deployment, there was no need for foreign workers in what was once a very labour-intensive industry.

Malaysian banks could now compete successfully with foreign banks and had expanded regionally, he added.

He said this was in line with the New Economic Model (NEM) unveiled by the government recently that aims to raise per capita income to US$15,000 in the next ten years

Antiquated labour policies

However, he said, the government would not be able to reach this target if employers kept suppressing wages.

bangladesh foreign workers migrants 030108 "In fact, the billions of ringgit spent on education to produce knowledge

workers would not benefit the country because of low wages, which would result in the migration of our best brains to other countries," he said.

Rajasegaran called on the government to be "bold" in getting rid of

antiquated policies which helped keep wages low and employers seeking only cheap foreign labour.

To achieve the aspirations of the NEM, the government should review the trade union laws and align it to enhance the trade union movement with rights to collective bargaining.

It should also encourage the  building  of strong workers and employers

organisations with technical capacity and knowlege for effective participation in national development, he added.