The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) wants the human resources minister's discretion to refer cases to the Industrial Court to be removed.

This was after Human Resources Minister Richard Riot Jaem decided not to refer some 3,600 cases by former Malaysia Airlines (MAS) employees who were retrenched, to the Industrial Court and also refused to provide justification.

"This is an evidence as to why MTUC has been advocating that all cases referred by claimants, if unable to reach a settlement at the Industrial Relations Department, should be referred to the Industrial Court directly, instead of referring again to the human resources minister for his discretion on its merit," said MTUC secretary-general J Solomon.

Solomon said it was in the spirit of the Industrial Relations Act 1967 that cases referred to the minister should be decided on, expeditiously...