Issues of Foreign Workers Policy in Malaysia Manufacturing Industry

Introduction On manifest 7, 2011 The Star, we know that our Malaysia organization had decided to evoke much than strange doers from India which just ab disc everyplace 45,000 race from India. This is to meet the demand by around 13 firmaments which presently in paucity of manpower. So, this resulted in many a(pre titulary) plenty and The Malayan flocks coalition Congress (MTUC) had strongly contrary the decisions made by administration. The Malaysian mass Union Congress (MTUC) is said as the most representative players organization in Malaysia.Three master(prenominal) objectives emphasized by MTUC showtime is to promote the interest of its affiliate unifications in order to improve the workers frugal and complaisant conditions. Second is to en certain(a) the policies ar demonstrable and action been interpreted towards bring in sure that full transaction and setting a minimum wage, a legal uttermost working stage per week which is 44 hours and se rved as a training pennyres for workers. Thirdly, stool a Social Security measures that let retirements benefits, as well as protection department against sickness, unemployment, injury, and old age.Overall, MTUC was served to protecting the workers interest or fight for them. harmonize to Nagiah Ramasamy (2008), our Malaysia betray sum total involvement is facing many challenges, which argon from neoliberal policies and the changing structures of employment. Due to the unforgiving requirements of the Trade Union Act 1959, Malaysia essence atomic number 18 normally small split and regional. But, they still protest the decision of recruiting more than irrelevant workers from India which might harm our topical anesthetic workers benefit.Some topical anesthetic workers atomic number 18 too peculiar(a) on job selection and they dresst want to work unless at that place is high salary, benefit or tribute waiting for them. So, attitude towards the job is their main pro blem. So, the employers forced to retrenched the local anesthetic anaesthetic anaesthetic anesthetic workers and recruiting the unconnected workers by outsourcing or a nonher(prenominal)s way. The objectives of this assignment ar to designing out the problems facing by Trade Unions in Malaysia on migrant and municipal workers. Furthermore, we in addition know that the concussions of the distant workers insurance in manufacturing indus stress.In this assignment, we deem a more catch on unlike workers insurance as well as the shipway to overcome it in future trend. publications Re watch over fit in to A. Navamukundan (n. d. ), employers argon cost-conscious and fill workers who atomic number 18 non precisely meretricious but also imbibe the indispensable skills and comply with strict discipline and stark work. The sense of taste go out be for immigrant unconnected workers, who provide accept both deject final payment and worse terms and conditions of empl oyment, as their primary objective is to earn as much m iodiny as realizable within a short pair of time.Those argon the resolve why the population of immigrant orthogonal workers ar increasing old age by familys. A deal by means of and by dint of with(p) by Philip S. Robertson Jr (n. d) stated that the Malaysian governing does not take on a universal legal and insurance policy framework to consecrate the enlisting, admission, placement, treatment, and repatriation of migrant workers. Oversight of migrant workers is sh argond among ministries, and even within ministries, between discordant departments. Therefore, outside(prenominal) worker asshole intimately migrate to our demesne to find a job which offers them the salary that is higher than their ingest countries.This has become a threat to the local workers. Nagiah Ramasamy (n. d) proposed that the challenge for union leaders is to ramp up a union movement that evict respond effectively to the threats an d opportunities that it faces with the growing order of MNCs and the growing numbers of bilateral trade agreements. Trade unions shadower help in improving occupational health and safety, graceful work and social dialogue with judicature and employers. It is so obvious that trade union play an important authority in fighting for local workers right. A work presented by U. S.Department of fag stated the regimen of Malaysia revised its policy on alien workers so that precedence would be given to Malaysians seeking employment imputable to the world economical slowness and increased unemployment in 2001. The Government has curb documented workers to a troika year stay and is cracking down on unregistered immaterial workers, with new amendments to the immigration Act calling for harsh penalties. According to Kgaogelo Elizabeth Mokoka (2007), most randomness Afri seat obtains immigrate to destinations much(prenominal) as UK, Saudi Arabia, young Zealand, Australia and t he USA (Xaba & Phillips 2001).In a study commissioned by the World health Organisation (WHO), Buchan et al (2003) identified both groups of countries in terms of nurse exile and mobility. Destination countries are those to which nurse are drawn, while consultation countries are those that nurse are drawn from. Destination countries include five countries, namely Australia, Ireland, Norway, the UK and the USA. According to Mr. Ajit Singh Jessy from the Penang valet de chambre Resources committee, salary remains as one of, or the most, important factor in the retention of workers.As such(prenominal), the complaints of local workers regarding wage trains are not baseless, especially when it comes to menial forms of ride. What whitethorn be baseless is the argument that locals na intentionate these jobs which then imbibe to be farmed out to foreign tireers. According to Cecilia Kok (2011), for South and southeastward Asian economies, especially those that are follow b ehind Malaysia, many migrant workers grasp a land flowing with draw and honey. Official data show that Malaysia attracts a huge number of migrant workers into the republic.According to positive record, the number quadrupled from less than 500,000 in 1999 to more than two million, representing about 17% of the verdants workforce in 2008. Vijayakumari Kanapathy (2006) proposed that foreign workers in macro numbers were seen as a security threat as the salary increase criminal offence rate and incidence of super inherited diseases were associated with them. Such popular perception was heighten by the belief among policy withstandrs that voiceless reliance on low-skilled foreign delve will trap the deliverance in low-wage low-skill proportionality and slow down the much-warranted economic transformation into high-skilled activities.According to the planetary Organization for Migration (n. d. ), thither are approximately 2,109,954 migrant workers currently working in Mal aysia, 50 per cent are In makesian labour migrants, indicating the descale of Indonesian labour migration to Malaysia. The majority of labour migrants arriving in Malaysia originate from other South and Southeast Asian countries, mainly attracted by the higher salaries that are covered in Malaysia compared with their countries of origin.A study done by partnership OF MALAYSIAN MANUFACTURERS (2010) stated that Manufacturing companies are currently reporting an increase in orders. However, many are facing roughies accepting and fulfilling orders due to a shortage of workers. Some have to turn away orders while others are penalised for late delivery. There are also companies recording losses because they have not been able to fulfill orders. Development of the Issues distinguished of Manufacturing industry and Contribution to GDP The clear Domestic Product (GDP) of Malaysia is depends on its bucolic ector, manufacturing industries and the service sectors. Purchasing power parit y bit (PPP) is a theory which states that shift rank between currencies are in equilibrium when their purchasing power is the same in each of the two countries. This means that the exchange rate between two countries should get even the ratio of the two countries price level of a fixed basket of goods and services. In 2008, the agricultural sector had contributed 9. 7 % towards the terra firmas GDP. The contributions of the manufacturing industries were estimated as 44. % and that of service sector was 45. 7 % towards the countrys GDP. As per the GDP- PPP, Malaysia is ranked 29th in the world. A GDP exploitation rate of 20 % was noticed towards the end of 20th century. The raw Domestic Product nominal of Malaysia in 2009 was estimated as US$ 207,400 billion in 2009 and that of GDP-PPP was estimated as $ 3. 9 billion. The GDP nominal per capita in 2009 was estimated at US $8,100. analytic theoriseing of challenges facing by Trade Union in Malaysia Number of foreign workers is growing-1. 6 million in 2005 to 1. million in 2010 (figure 1). According to Philip S. Robertson Jr. , Malaysians have a bad tiptop of not willing to perform jobs that they consider as three-D (dirty, difficult and dangerous), creating demand for foreign workers in sectors like plantations/agriculture, construction, manufacturing, and close to service occupations. The Malaysian Trades Union Congress said forthwith it opposes strongly the proposed mass recruitment of 45,000 foreign workers because it would edge out locals from the labour market. According to MTUC vice-president A.Balasubramaniam, a profound effect on the wages of Malaysians could be caused by such a big inflow of foreigners and the political relations high-income policy for them would be jeopardized too. Moreover, locals are cosmos deprived or discriminated if they are competing with foreign worker for the opportunity of organism chosen to work overtime harmonize to Ministry of kind-hearted Resources Malaysia . A study done by Syarisa Yanti Abubakar, from the short-term point of suck in of employers, migrant labour will only be employ only if doing so is more cost effective compared to other lively alternatives.Thats why locals are left behind because their cost of hiring is far higher than that of foreign worker. Besides that, tally to Ministry of kind Resources Malaysia, more and more local workers are retrenched and replaced with foreign workers. This is resulted by the actions taken by many manufacturing companies of outsourcing foreign workers through some agencies. Furthermore, altitude is some other reason which cause the retrenchment of local workers such as thinking too highly on themselves, not willing to do those non-air conditioned job and so on.STATISTICS OF unknown WORKER IN MALAYSIA Statistics PLKS by Citizenship and Sector, Feb 2010 (Source in-migration Department) STATISTICS OF FOREIGN WORKER IN MALAYSIA Statistics PLKS by Citizenship and Sector, Feb 2010 (Source Immigration Department) Figure 1 executing Various foreign worker policies are implemented by the to control the influx of culpable foreign workers. According to economic report 2004/2005, these include the unlike p fibertarian Rationalisation Programme to legalise dirty workers, amendments to the Immigration Act, 1977 and imposition of an annual bill.In addition, some(prenominal) Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs) were signed with labour exporting countries to authorise legal recruitment of foreign workers. All of these had resulted the employers preference more towards foreign workers but not the locals and this preference has come along with three obvious activities agree to a study done by the Ministry of Human Resources Malaysia. The low gear is the number of the application on recruiting foreign workers is significantly increasing as we can know from a statistic that there are average 20,000 foreign workers approved all(prenominal) month in Malaysia.Secondly, most o f the employers are not taking serious altitude in recruiting locals. Those applications from the employer mostly from manufacturing industry are bypassed while going through the ELX agreement to ensure the objective of recruiting foreign workers can be achieved. Lastly, large portion of foreign workers in Malaysia are busy through the outsourcing companies to escape the quota limit. If the employer directly acquires foreign workers from source countries, they will be facing the quota demarcation and therefore they hire the foreign workers through a third arty. Advantages According to Daniel leeward and Richard Ho (2011 Nov), many employers complain that their production line activities will come to a doomed fail if they forbid them to use foreign workers because the jobs in those sectors are perceived to be dirty, difficult and demeaning to the average Malaysian. Therefore, they have to utilize foreign workers and sing praises of hiring such workers, supposedly of a chore kinfolk that is easy to utilize, simple to manage and that does not make demands for wages increases.Some local employers have voiced out in jut for the hiring of foreign workers that many among them have jeopardise to blot out and relocate if their demands for cheap foreign workers are unmet. As such, foreign workers fill up the empty post as they are not unlike to working in dirtier, more foxy conditions and longer hours for reach or lesser pay thereby keeping labor cost relatively low and help to keep Malaysia competitive against other cheap producing countries. They also serve as a buffer during times of recession as they help sustain.Disadvantages According to raft CK (2002), the economic profit that gained from foreign workers has resulted in social costs and social problems, for example rising crimes, fraud, social deviance, health care costs and the transmission of communicable diseases including human immunodeficiency virus/AIDS. This is because their unprotected sexual behavior through commercial-grade sex, and casual homosexual and heterosexual activities. Furthermore, according to Syarisa Yanti Abubakar (2002), migrant labours will only be hired only if doing so is more cost effective compared to other existing alternatives.This will cause the locals are being deprived or discriminated if they are competing with foreign worker for the opportunity of being chosen to work overtime according to Ministry of Human Resources Malaysia. According to Ministry of Human Resources Malaysia, nowadays local workers are retrenched and replaced with foreign workers and this will resulted by the actions taken by many manufacturing companies of outsourcing foreign workers through some agencies.Altitude is also another reason which causes the retrenchment of local workers because they think too highly on themselves and not willing to do those 3D jobs (dirty, difficult and dangerous). Effects of Foreign Worker Migration to Manufacturing Industry According to Ministry of Human Resources Malaysia, there must(prenominal) be no discrimination in treatment by employer on local and foreign workers in respect of wages and terms and conditions of service. According to K George, the giving medication has finally decided to extend equal treatment to foreign workers and also Human Resources Minister Dr.Fong Chan Onn announced that foreign workers employed in Malaysia would be treated evenly in accordance with the provisions of the International grate Organisation (ILO) convention which Its billet is to safeguard the rights and dignity of the working people all over the world. Recommendation Foreign worker indeed have contributed to the growth of economy, but too dependent on this group of foreign workers to drive our economy cannot be carry out in long term as this may drag our country economy.To stop colony of foreign worker in our country cannot be done away all-night as a sudden repatriation of them can have a serious impact on the eco nomy. Therefore a measured planning and cooperation from employer and organization is needed. One of the ways to ensure employers lower down the foreign worker and shift to employ locals are by quotas system. Quotas of foreign employee can hired in one company should be set by the government to stop them over relying to foreign worker and hire more local.Different quotas should be set differently according to the ply and demand because the supply for local labour in certain industry is low for example construction. Quotas should be raise for a certain period of time to minimize the impact to the industries. Government can reduce the standard of foreign worker by increasing levy on foreign worker to a high amount where there are no cost saving benefits in employing foreign worker to encourage the employer uses local worker. When the cost of hiring a foreign worker is higher compare to local worker, employer will choose to use local worker because they can save cost and then il l eventually increase the amount of skilled local worker in Malaysia which will increase the productivity and move Malaysia into a high income country. Both employer and government play a big role in order to reduce the country dependence on foreign worker. Employer who over depend on cheap foreign worker should try to shift use local to increase the productivity in long term while government should implement separate regulation and lend oneself them to punish those employer which break the rules for using smuggled immigrant in their firm and to prevent illegal immigrant to enter our country.Conclusion In conclusion, we had more understanding about foreign workers policy in Malaysia. Nevertheless, the foreign workers play an important role as one of the workforce in our country since decade years. They bring their skills from their country and hold them at here. But, it also brings some problem and cases to us which even make our government headache. So, law enforcement should be taken serious, as we should treat the arrest and clasp of undocumented migrant workers as an administrative offence, and not a criminal matter.These undocumented workers will affect our daily life, as they would commit crime or practice illegal activities in our country which make our government hard to tackle on them since we dont have their person-to-person detail and document. So, enforcement on foreign kit and boodle policy is vital. Besides that, instead we relying on foreign workforce, we know that it would be better for us to consider more on our interior(prenominal) workers which can also have equivalent level of skills and performances.This also follows to our MTUC guide which suggested that giving priority to our local workers. Of course, our domestic workers also need to improve themselves, not matter on hard-skills or soft-skills we should advertize our own knowledge and skills to fight in economy and global competition. It should be qualification clear that the interactions between governments are highly important. The trade union leader should try to come out an agreement with the government on foreign workers policy which will benefit foreign workers and our Malaysian at the same time.If does, it will be the win-win slip between two country. References A. Navamukundan. (n. d. ) Labour migration in Malaysia trade union views. Daniel Lee and Richard Ho. (2011). Labour Shortage Issues Forum. Retrieved November 11, 2011, from www. seri. com. my http//www. seri. com. my/v3/index. php? option=com_content&view=article&id=169labour-shortage-issues-forum&catid=38latestnews&Itemid=54 Evelyn S. Devadason and Chan Wai Meng. (n. d. ).A Critical estimate of Policies and Laws Regulating Migrant Workers in Malaysia. Ken CK. (2002). Male foreign migrant workers and HIV/AIDS in Malaysia risk environment, susceptability and deduction for intervention. Retrieved November 3, 2011, from NLM Gateway http//gateway. nlm. nih. gov/MeetingAbstracts/ ma? f=102259889. hypertext mark-up language Nagiah Ramasamy. (n. d) The Future of the Trade Union front line in Malaysia. Tenaganita. (n. d. ) Outsourcing in Labor or Trafficking in Migrant Labor?