COMMENT In conjunction with International Migrants Day which falls on Dec 18, Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) urges the government to implement immediately the proposed changes to policies on migrant workers as per its commitment in the recently-concluded Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) negotiations.

The side letters to the TPPA agreement signed by both International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed and United States Trade Representative Micheal Froman clearly indicate that the Malaysian government has given its commitments to enact laws or amend existing ones on a range of migrant labour rights so as to adhere to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) declaration on the fundamental principles and rights at work.

Malaysia, as before, is able to ratify any ILO conventions irrespective of whether there is a trade agreement or not. So what is holding the government back from immediately ratifying the convention and amending our labour laws?

The legal reforms under the ILO’s principle of elimination of forced labour are meant to provide better protection for migrant workers, and cover a whole range of rights that are currently violated not only by many employers, but also government agencies.

Among these are the right of the worker to hold his/her own passport; the right to join a union, the right to a written contract, better housing, and limitations on recruitment fees, and the payment of levy to be borne by the employer.

Another important reform agreed to is the right to redress for workers involved in industrial disputes. Such workers are to be issued a special pass by the Labour Department that will enable them to stay on in the country, and work in alternative employment until their case is resolved.

Currently, migrant workers involved in labour disputes are barred by the Immigration Department from working for any other employer, thus making it impossible for them to stay on legally and seek justice.

All these reforms have been long sought by civil society organisations but with little success, and it is interesting that it needed a corporate-driven free trade agreement to make our government agree.

It will be two years after the US-led TPPA is ratified in February 2016 by all 12 countries involved, for the new policies to be implemented. Why do we have to wait for two years to implement changes, some of which can be put into practice now or in the short term? Some of these rights are already protected by our laws, but it is the enforcement that is lacking.

The government must take measures to improve the working and living conditions of migrant workers, not because of the TPPA stick, but because the rights in question are very basic workers' rights.

For it is not certain that the pro-investor TPPA can be trusted to protect the rights and living standards of workers as ferociously as it will protect the rights of investors. The TPPA labour chapter and side letters are impressive in their commitments to strengthen and empower trade unions, and collective bargaining by removing various administrative restrictions.

This can lead to the development of powerful unions, a conscientised workforce free to exercise industrial actions to resolve stalemates, all of which are contradictory to the motive of larger profits for investors. It is difficult to imagine the TPPA tolerating such a radical environment.

Poor record of dispute settlement

Previous free trade agreements reveal a poor record of dispute settlement where it involves workers. In 2014, researchers for the US government found that compliance with labour provisions in US free trade agreements with countries in Central and South America were “generally not monitored and enforced systematically”.

A 2008 petition filed by the AFL-CIO (US national trade union centre) together with Guatemalan labour unions on, among others, the repression of union activity still has not been heard seven years later. There are reports of similar experiences in Honduras and Columbia.

This situation is vastly different from the record of investors who have used the sinister Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism to hit governments with up to billions for loss or possible loss of profits.

The PSM urges the government to immediately start taking measures to honour the rights of the six million migrant workers in the country and not link their fate to the TPPA.

RANI RASIAH is a member of PSM’s central committee and its migrant desk.