Sunday, January 06, 2019

Protesting overtime limit increase from 250 to 400 hrs per year? Malaysia's limit is about 1,248 hours per year - 'SLAVE LAW'?

Well, big protests in Hungary just because they increased the legal overtime limit from 250 hours per year to 400 hours per year..

In what amounts to be the biggest scandal of Hungary's Parliament since the regime change, the Parliament passed the Overtime Act, often called the Slavery Act by the opposition, effective as of 1 January 2019.
This new amendment to the Labour Act raises the possible overtime hours from 250/year to 400/year based on individual agreements with employees, which agreement overrides even the collective agreements made with trade unions. This is called "voluntary overtime", and critics of the new law say that it makes employees vulnerable to the whims of employers, as they are not necessarily in the position to say no to a request of some "voluntary overtime".-https://index.hu/english/2018/12/12/hungary_parliament_overtime_passed_scandal_chaos_overtime_banking_protest/

Well, in Malaysia our overtime limit is 104 hours per month(meaning about 1,248 hours per year)

Worse still, is the fact that Malaysia at present has a draconian overtime limit, as contained in Employment (Limitation Of Overtime Work) Regulations 1980, which stipulates that the limit of overtime work shall be a total of one hundred and four (104) hours in any one month. Note that working on rest days and/or public holidays are not considered overtime. Hence, in Malaysia a worker can end up working 12 hours every working day.  - 49 Groups - Wrong to retain wages,etc to deter worker’s right to leave employer, and reduce overtime limit...

Remember LEGAL LIMITS is set by government ... and is the Malaysian government not bothered that Malaysian workers work more than 8 hours ...earn so little ...after all MPs are rich enough to holiday overseas with their families....

A good government will ensure that No worker will need to work for more than 8 hours per day(48 hours per week)...Every worker should also have enough time for REST(8 hours) and enough time for social life ....


Thousands rally against Hungary's overtime work law, PM Orban



People light their mobile phones during a protest against a proposed new labor law, billed as the "slave law", in Budapest, Hungary, January 5, 2019. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo

Opposition groups have staged several rallies in the past weeks in the Hungarian capital and other cities against what they said was an authoritarian rule of conservative nationalist Viktor Orban.

Saturday’s rally, organized by opposition parties, trade unions and civic groups, mainly targeted the new labor law dubbed by critics as “slave law”.

The protesters marched in snowfall from the historic Heroes Square to the parliament building on the bank of the Danube river, carrying banners such as “Sweep away the regime”.
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“We disagree with almost everything that is going on since this government got into power (in 2010), from corruption to pseudo-democracy,” said 50-year old housewife Eva Demeter.

She said more Hungarians were pouring onto the streets because the slave law “affects a bigger crowd”.

Some of the protesters posted on social media or carried banners calling for a “national strike”.

The modification to the labor code passed by parliament last month has faced intense criticism and sparked the biggest street protest in over a year. Potentially, it could add two extra hours to an average work day, or the equivalent of an extra workday per week.

Zoltan Mucsi, the head of steelmaker Dunaferr’s Vasas trade union, said it was undemocratic that the government did not discuss the labor code changes with the unions.

Some of the main trade union groups may resort to a strike if the government does not sit down with them to negotiate, he told Reuters.

Trade union membership in Hungary is estimated at below a tenth of the workforce, about half the level in Germany, according to data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The past weeks’ anti-government rallies were also against a law that sets up new courts which critics say could be politically manipulated, and against bias in state-controlled media.

The earlier protests have been mostly peaceful, though there were some clashes with police who used tear gas.

'Yellow vests' gather for first protest of 2019
The ruling Fidesz party reiterated in a statement on Thursday that the protests were part of a campaign for the European Parliament elections in May to help those who support mass migration into the European Union.

Fidesz won Hungarian elections with a landslide last year, with the ticket of resisting mass immigration into the EU.

Reporting by Sandor Peto; Editing by Clelia Oziel
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. Source: Reuters, 5/1/2019

 

 

Thousands in Budapest march against ‘slave law’ forcing overtime on workers

Anger at Viktor Orbán’s rule in Hungary also directed at courts system and state media


Budapest rally
Add The ‘slave law’ has created a rallying point for an opposition that has long been fractured and ineffectual. Photograph: László Balogh/Getty Images caption

Thousands of protesters in Hungary braved snow and freezing temperatures on a march against Viktor Orbán’s rightwing government, denouncing harsh new legislation that has been dubbed the “slave law”.

Passed in December, it allows companies to demand that staff work up to 400 hours overtime a year – or the equivalent of an extra day a week.

Hungary’s opposition has been fractured and ineffectual as Orbán has steadily amassed power since he was elected prime minister in 2010, but the “slave law” has created a rare rallying point.
At least 10,000 people marched through Budapest, from the historic Heroes Square to the parliament building on the banks of the Danube. Many also channelled wider concerns about attacks on academia, the judiciary and media.

Some were protesting against new courts that critics say could be politically manipulated. Others, in an apparent attack on bias in state-controlled media, shouted: “The TV is lying.” Banners included slogans such as “sweep away the regime”, or called for a “national strike”.

“We disagree with almost everything that is going on since this government got into power, from corruption to pseudo-democracy,” Eva Demeter, a 50-year-old woman, told Reuters. She said more Hungarians were pouring on to the streets because the slave law “affects a bigger crowd”.
Orbán’s Fidesz party, which has widespread support, won elections with a landslide last year to seal a two-thirds majority in parliament.

His government has wrested control of previously independent institutions, and last year the European parliament voted to bring disciplinary proceedings against Hungary for putting the rule of law at risk.


Viktor Orbán
The ‘slave law’ has created a rallying point for an opposition that has long been fractured and ineffectual. Photograph: László Balogh/Getty Images tion

In early December the Central European University also announced it will leave Budapest for Vienna after a protracted battle with the Hungarian government, in the first case of a major university being pushed out of an EU country.

rally was organised by opposition parties, trade unions and civic groups. Zoltán Mucsi, who leads the union at the steelmaker Dunaferr Vasas, said the “slave law” was undemocratic. The big trade unions may call a strike if the government does not sit down with them to negotiate, he told Reuters.

When it was put forward in parliament, opposition MPs whistled, jeered and sounded sirens in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to block its passage.

Then they took to the streets, and some camped out inside state television headquarters for nearly 24 hours, demanding a chance to read a list of demands on air, as protesters marched through Budapest.

Previous demonstrations have mostly been peaceful, though there were some clashes with police who used teargas. The latest march appeared to end peacefully, with demonstrators singing the national anthem. Orbán has so far been defiant in the face of the protests. István Hollik, a government spokesman, repeated the claim that George Soros, a Hungarian-American billionaire, was funding the marchers; in December officials also accused the opposition of “unprecedented” behaviour in parliament.

Soros is a frequent target of official attacks, including a poster campaign that was widely criticised as antisemitic. The posters were part of a campaign about immigration, an issue which has been at the heart of repeated government campaigns.

Orbán’s government has taken a fierce nativist line, portraying itself as fighting powerful and “shadowy” pro-migration forces. Critics point out that hundreds of thousands of Hungarians themselves have migrated to other countries, and say he is stirring up xenophobia to distract the electorate from issues from more pressing issues including corruption and economic woes. - The Guardian, 5/1/2019

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