Migrant workers voted in 'secret ballot' for union recognition, terminated and send back to country of origin?

When migrant workers overcome fears, and exercise their right to vote in the 'secret ballot' - whose result will determine whether the Union is accorded RECOGNITION, gets wrongly terminated and sent back to their countries of origin, and this injustice is not highlighted by the affected Union or even MTUC, we should most certainly be worried. 

RECOGNITION - In Malaysia, a registered trade union needs also to get the recognition of the employer before they can effectively represent the workers in a particular employer's workplace -- start the process towards entering a Collective Bargaining Agreement, etc. If an employer refuses to accord recognition, then there will be a 'secret ballot' in which all qualified employees who are or can be members of the said union will cast their votes, whereby if the total number of votes cast equals to more than 50% of the total qualified employees, then the Minister will accord recognition to the said union. Migrant workers employed by the employer will also be amongst these qualified employees... Many a time, employers do not want unions - so there is attempts to discourage qualified employees from coming out and voting in favour of the union...and migrant workers are more affected by these 'threats'... 

Well, in this case only few of these migrant workers overcome their fear and came to cast their votes - and about 4 were then allegedly terminated and sent back to their country of origin. 

Why did the UNION not come out and highlight this grave injustice? 

Well, the UNION was successful in this 'secret ballot' - which after this the Minister would sent the official letter confirming that the UNION has been accorded recognition or not - thereafter the UNION or the Employer have the right to challenge the decision of the Minister in court... (For example, Malaysian Airlines(MAS) is now challenging the recognition of NUFAM(National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia) that was granted by the Minister....this may have started a 'new' trend, i.e. the challenging of recognition even after secret ballots)

Hence, the UNION may have kept quite about what happened to the FEW migrant workers because they did not want to jeopardize the recognition process...Is this right? I do not think so - and the failure to highlight the injustice faced the said migrant workers (or any other member/potential member of the Union) and to fight for their rights is wrong.

UNIONS need to uphold the cause of justice without fear or favour --- fighting for rights is the priority....NOT fighting for rights of individual workers(members or otherwise) because of concern as to possible subsequent effect to the UNION i.e. the possibility that recognition may be denied by the Minister, or the Employer may apply to court to challenge the recognition, or that other actions may be taken against the UNION including de-registration or other actions against the leadership....is not acceptable.  

RISKS is always there ....even the possibility of deregistration or even other actions against union leadership is always there - BUT Unions must not be cowed into inaction ... unions, after all, must always be seen to fight for all workers ... even one or two...foreign or national...

The other reason advanced for inaction was because the affected migrant workers did not want to fight - i.e. did not want to file a complaint claiming wrongful dismissal... (Well, the question is whether it was wrong of the employer to cause to terminate and send the workers out of Malaysia back to their home country by reason of them being brave enough to exercise their right to vote in the secret ballot .... The UNION should have highlighted this wrong - clearly a violation of worker rights... 

Whether the victim wants to lodge a complaint, and pursue the claim for wrongful dismissal is totally another matter. Further, for a migrant worker this option of lodging a complaint at the Industrial Relations Department(IRD) claiming wrongful dismissal and reinstatement is really not there. WHY? Well, for the whole process, it takes years...sometimes even up to 10 years... and a migrant worker, when terminated also loses the ability to stay and work legally in Malaysia... There is no REAL access for justice for the migrant worker in Malaysia ... 

How do you remain in Malaysia without the ability to work and earn an income legally. Yes, the migrant worker can apply for a Special Pass, which will cost the worker RM100 per month, and every month an application has to be made... Where will the migrant worker get his/her food and board? Who will pay for it? On the other hand, a local worker can always find another job and income whilst he waits for the long long process of claiming justice for his/her wrongful termination ....so naturally, most (if not all), migrant workers wrongfully terminated will choose not to even use the mechanism to access justice -  

So, the reason that the migrant workers did not want to fight is NO EXCUSE for why the UNION did not take up this case... 

The UNION should have highlighted this injustice .... even if they did not want to act or take up this issue, they could have highlighted this... 

The UNION could have issued a media statement .... could have highlighted this on their BLOG, website, or even other available worker rights sites...

The UNION could have protested - picketed.... raised the issue.

The UNION could have lodged a complaint with the relevant Minister or the government

The UNION could have lodged a complaint with the Malaysian Human Rights Commission(SUHAKAM)

The UNION could have informed the Malaysian Trade Union Congress(MTUC) urging it to act

The MTUC could have raised the matter at the NLAC (National Labour Advisory Council)

The National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC) is the national tripartite consultative mechanism established to provide for consultation and co-operation between the government and the organizations of workers and employers at the national level on matters relating to social and labour policies and international labour standards

The MTUC could also have lodged a complaint to the International Labour Organisation(ILO)

The UNION could have informed any number of human rights or worker rights groups, the Malaysian Bar Council, concerned individuals, etc.... and the issue would have been highlighted

... and Malaysia may have taken action to ensure that such injustices never again happens in Malaysia. 

BUT, the UNION may have yet to do this.... and, it is still not too late for the UNION to highlight this rights violation... [Failure to act would be detrimental to worker and union rights - why would any worker, especially a migrant worker, join or be part of or support any Union, if the UNION does not fight for individual workers who are victims of injustice...Remember also that it is not just acting - but also to be seen to be acting...so a 'quite' lodging of a complaint would not suffice... ]


Now, only qualified employees, those in the list approved by the employer, the union and the relevant government department can vote during a secret ballot - and, there is no question that these migrant workers had the right to vote, so it is GREAT WRONG when employers take actions against workers for exercising their right to vote....

This is a major issue of concern... 



If migrant workers (and other workers) are getting terminated just by reason that they exercised the right to vote at the 'secret ballot', by reason that they became members of the union, by reason that they encouraged others to come together and join a union, etc... it is gross violation of worker rights...

The affected migrant workers may no more be in Malaysia - but the issue cannot be ignored and must be taken up by the UNION, MTUC, Human Rights Defenders, SUHAKAM, Malaysian Government...

Employers who do this to workers must be penalized... it is a violation of the freedom of association - the right to come together as trade unions...