Some 20,000 Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) members are staging a nationwide picket today to protest the government's inaction to its long-standing complaints.

The hour-long picket , which kicked off at 5pm, is being carried out at 11 'strategic' locations in the Klang Valley, Johor, Penang, Malacca, Sabah and Sarawak.

The members are upset that the government has not responded to complaints, mainly regarding workers' right to set up unions and industrial disharmony caused by uncertain policies and unscrupulous employers, both local and foreign.

The government remains silent despite two memorandums being submitted to Human Resources Minister Dr Fong Chan Onn last year and another 70-page document to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Jan19.

The memorandum also outlined problems related to non-recognition of trade unions and employers' rejection of employees' right to collective agreements.

Citing the delay in resolving trade disputes, the memorandum also noted the steady rise in the number of unlawful dismissal cases over the last five years.

Members are also upset that employers were insisting on removing annual increments and bonus payments that have formed part and parcel of a collective agreement for years.

Gauge response

Contacted today, MTUC secretary-general G Rajasekaran said the picket will be a one-day affair.

"We'll see how the response is from the government, especially from Fong and Pak Lah (Abdullah), failing which we will plan another picket but this time outside Parliament.

"We'll wait for about three weeks for the government to respond before proceeding," he added.

The current parliamentary sitting is scheduled to end on Dec 14.

Rajasekaran said MTUC, with has over 100 affiliated trade unions, had a series of discussions with the ministry on various topics.

"But we want a clear action plan which Fong, while responsive to our claims, has failed to come up with," he added.

He said the problem was also one of jurisdiction.

"The hiring of foreign workers, for example, is within the purview of the Home Affairs Ministry and not the Human Resources Ministry, but changes can be made overnight as had been done many times in the past," he added.

Besides the rising rate of unemployment in Malaysia, foreign workers are also being dealt a raw deal by errant employers, he noted.

Rajasekaran believes that the problem of unrestricted recruitment of foreign workers is the key to many related problems.

"Due to excessive legal restrictions, workers are denied the right to join industrial unions to safeguard their jobs and livelihood.

"The government has announced plans to impose further restrictions and arm the director-general of trade unions with unlimited powers to interfere in a union's affairs," he said, underlining the fear that trade unions would cease to function freely.

Arm-twisting tactics

Last week, Fong announced a possible amendment to the Trade Unions Act 1959 in order to prevent a situation similar to that faced by the National Union of Bank Employees which has been embroiled in a three-year legal and internal administrative crisis.

The minister's suggestion was met with a horde of criticism from MTUC and NUBE, which have demanded for the crisis not to be used as an excuse to amend the law.

Currently, said Rajasekaran, there were major local and Japanese companies that have over 50 percent of foreign workers on their payroll.

"Big players are employing arm-twisting tactics against the government," he added.

He also chided the government for allowing big companies to recruit large numbers of foreign workers on the grounds that locals were not interested in these jobs.

"This is mainly due to an absence of any requirement for a minimum wage or to limit the number of foreign workers that a company is allowed to hire," he added.

Fong could not be reached for immediate comments.