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Workers do not request to work long hours, PSM rebuts employers
Published:  Jun 14, 2016 12:53 PM
Updated: 4:58 AM

PSM today disputed the Malaysian Employers Federation's claim that Nepali workers request to work longer hours, saying that workers are contracted to work 12-hours shifts.

MEF executive director Shamsudin Bardan reportedly said workers request to work overtime, implying that employers are not exploiting workers.

“It is irresponsible for the employers to wash their hands on this issue, as most work contracts for foreign workers specify 12 hours as a standard daily working hours,” said PSM secretary-general Sivarajan Arumugam in a statement.

According to the Nepali embassy in Kuala Lumpur, 70 percent of the 461 deaths of Nepal worker in Malaysia last year were due to heart attack, suffered while sleeping, probably due to long working hours.

Sivarajan said most workers mortgage land or houses to pay for their recruitment fees, expecting to receive handsome wages while working in Malaysia.

However, the promised minimum wages of RM900 is subject to further deductions for levy, housing and electricity, he said, prompting them to work overtime.

“The employers are responsible as they have abused the workers' debt-burdened condition to extract maximum labour from them,” he said.

PSM demands that the employers immediately stop the 12-hour daily shift and offer overtime work only if there is a need for increased production.

The deduction of levy payment from workers salary should be immediately stopped as well, he said.

MEF is also urged to ensure employers comply to the new minimum wages of RM1,000 per month starting July 2016.

“The Human Resources Ministry has to ensure that employers carry out periodical medical check up for workers with sufficient in house medical facilities at their factories,” he added.

“The government must immediately ensure that workers are not burdened by recruitment fees and abuses by labour supply companies.”

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