'MTUC has never been anti-government'

The country's national trade union centre, the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC), has always been suspected of, as well as accused of, being anti-government by those in power and the coalition parties in the ruling front.

And they harp at every opportunity that MTUC should be politically neutral.

This charge that MTUC is anti-government emerged again, with greater vigour, from those challenging the incumbent leaders in the MTUC elections held in December last year.

The team led by Timber Employees Union leader Mohd Khalid Atan defeated the incumbent president Syed Shahir Syed Mohamud, who was accused of being an active member of PKR, and captured the leadership.

Khalid ( right ) campaigned on grounds to "unite the (trade union) movement, change the perception of MTUC as being anti-government and to be politically neutral".

He and his running mates in the election capitalised on the alleged "perception" that MTUC was anti-government, a perception that was assiduously promoted by employers, leaders of the BN coalition parties and even by some of the pro-BN trade union leaders.

During the Hulu Selangor by-election MIC deputy president and Human Resources Minister Dr S Subramaniam accused MTUC of having lost its "neutrality".

Never anti-government

It is now almost six months since the new MTUC leadership assumed office. What do the new leaders think of MTUC being anti-government?

With the elections over, the new secretary-general Abdul Halim Mansor, an important member of Khalid's team seemed to draw a distinction between the involvement of MTUC as an organisation of workers and its leaders as individuals in politics.

"MTUC has never ever been anti-government," Halim told Malaysiakini in a recent interview, and dismissed as wrong accusations that the federation is politically aligned.

"MTUC has never ever aligned with any political party. Zainal Rampak's (a former MTUC president) decision to join Umno was not MTUC's decision. It has been so all the time, notwithstanding the fact that individuals had joined political parties. The accusation is not correct."

Swimming with the current

Stressing the reasons for MTUC being apolitical, Halim said past leaderships had been trying hard to achieve the objectives of trade union struggles but "we found it a bit hard to reach the destination".

"We believe we have struggled very hard on many platforms. We used to campaign for the opposition. We worked with Syed Sharir in order to oust Zainal Rampak because Zainal had joined the BN. Syed was not in politics then. Now, he is a politician."

Believing that the struggles carried out all these years for the success of the workers' cause have not produced the results expected, Halim has come to the conclusion that it is better to swim with the current.

He said, "As the Malays say 'don't go against the current', we go non-political.

"What we mean by non-political is that we do not want to be directly engaged with any political party, whether it is the government party or the opposition.

"We are on different platforms. We do not want to say we are partners because we have lost confidence. It does not mean we work only with the government, no.

"I have said before that we are prepared to work with the government or anybody else to make sure we succeed in championing the cause of the workers."

Conceding that politics is part of every human activity, Halim added, "Even when you tackle your boyfriend or girlfriend, there is politics."

The formation of MTUC and the selection of its first leader itself was the result of a political decision. Both colonial Malaya and the independent Malayan/Malaysian governments had made sure that MTUC remained pro-government.

So, why should MTUC now declare itself to be politically neutral?

In 2008, Halim said, MTUC held a series of pickets and demonstrations in support of its struggles. At the end of the day, it was monopolised by the opposition and it appeared to be anti-government.

"I still believe in political neutrality. People say we are anti-government. We are not. Why are we now saying we are politically neutral?

"If we don't say it now, they will later say Khalid (MTUC president) is linked to BN," Halim added, justifying his preference for political neutrality.

However, he conceded that the authority to determine MTUC's political role rested with its general council and the delegates' conference.

"We don't even have the right to question any individual's right to be involved in politics. But the general council is the deciding authority to decide if the movement should take a political leaning."

Minimum wage: A sad story

Halim said MTUC had during the last 12 years submitted so many memoranda and staged public programmes in support of its claim for a minimum wage, but the government never responded seriously.

After the 2008 general election and even after the MTUC election, he said, Umno Youth approached the movement to find out what its minimum wage demand was about.

"It is a sad story that only after 12 years have passed did the Umno/BN Youth want to know about our minimum wage claim!

"Their move was initiated by the Umno labour bureau and then picked up by Umno Youth and widened into a BN Youth representation on this matter," Halim said.

After briefing the BN Youth as to what minimum wage was all about, a meeting with the deputy prime minister was held. This matter had been discussed with various departments and a decision was taken to set up a national wage council, Halim said.

A bill to set up the wage council was to have been tabled at the current sitting of Parliament but the information from some of the MPS was that there was no such matter in the order papers.

Dinner with PM

Perhaps, making a move again to swim with the current and to demonstrate that MTUC has never been anti-government, nor did it ever align with any particular political party, the federation hosted a dinner for Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak at Grand Dorsett Subang Jaya last night.

Some 600 trade unionists and other guests attended.

Deputy president Mohd Jaffar Majid said MTUC had no clue as to what the prime minister would say in his speech at the dinner, but he is hopeful that Najib will make some important announcements, especially on the minimum wage.

Almost all the country's prime ministers - except for Dr Mahathir Mohamad who regarded trade unionists as untouchables and Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who had no time for trade unions - have attended MTUC dinners and made promises, none of which were fulfilled.