More important than violation of rights, as contained in employment agreements or the laws today, is the FIGHT for better rights and better working conditions > and the later is where the government of PM Anwar Ibrahim fails - they still refuse to remove the CHAINS that bind workers/trade unions to fight for BETTER RIGHTS. How many government owned/controlled companies and GLCs even have TRADE UNIONS - that tells us about government commitment to worker/trade union rights too...
MAY DAY sees its origin in an event where worker was fighting for BETTER RIGHTS, than what they had in the Employment Contracts, or in LAW. Sadly, in Malaysia, to do this fight for BETTER RIGHTS is not there, or highly restrictive...
Worker Rights in Malaysia comes from the Employment Contract, where obviously the employer has the advantage over a worker looking for employment. Most employer only provides minimal rights. If there is a Trade Union, maybe that rights may be slightly better, the Collective Bargaining Agreements may provide better rights than the original employment contracts.
Workers and/or Union's struggle is to TRY to get the employer to give BETTER RIGHTS than what is contained in Employment Agreements - and this is a STRUGGLE for most employers simply do not want to give their employee-worker any better rights.
When 'BEGGING' does not work, workers united resort to other means - PICKET, A Public Campaign to pressure employer to say OK to better rights, and the strongest form of Industrial Action is the STRIKE (where the workers refuse to work until the Employer relents and give in to worker demands, all or part. When workers STRIKE, they forfeit their pay, and the Employer struggles for without workers, work cannot be done, thus affecting profits) >> But the Malaysian law/policy makes it ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE to FIGHT for better rights. EMPLOYMENT Security is also KEY for workers to fight for better rights >> So, why is the government still not making short-term employment contracts illegal - ensuring that all workers get REGULAR EMPLOYMENT. A short term employment contract is just too worried that employer may not give him/her new contract or extension, thus the PRUDENT FEAR makes them to not fight for better rights...
The 2nd source of worker rights, is the LAW, but laws usually provides MINIMUM rights only, and for workers earning RM4,000 or less(previously RM2,000 or less) or doing manual work ... In short, a worker/employee earning RM4,500 or more cannot rely even on the minimum rights stated in Employment Act - thus if their employment contract does not provide for certain rights, they are not entitled to it...
WORKERS are a large voting group - and has the power to support or oppose governments, depending on whether they are going to get workers' better rights or not. The prohibition on workers/unions involvement in POLITICS must be removed
To get BETTER RIGHTS in laws, then workers/unions have to CONVINCE the government, and naturally that may mean supporting Opposition parties or parties or candidates who PROMISE to fight for the amendment of laws - Hence, why the workers/unions have to enter the POLITICAL arena for this fight. But, Malaysian Trade Union laws disallows the usage of union funds for political purposes. The British to suppress/CONTROL workers/unions enacted laws that RESTRICTED Unions to just employer-employee actions. In other countries, Labour(Unions/Workers) actively support and campaign for political parties/candidates that AGREE to change laws so the worker can get better rights.
PM Anwar Ibrahim and the Government of Malaysia is sadly, in my opinion, still ANTI-workers, and anti-union and pro-Employer.
This government still follows the British Colonial Government strategy and policy of 'CONTROLLING' and restricting the ability of workers to FIGHT for better rights.
Workers and Trade Unions - still victim of draconian laws. History reminded? Pos Unions Leader in defence of employer - need for worker/union reforms?
The state of the labour movement in Malaysia (Part 1)
The origins of the labour movement in M’sia (Part 2 of a series)
How the British suppressed the Malayan labour movement (Part 3)
The last breath of the labour movement?(Part 4)
They are still using the SAME kind of laws - to RESTRICT workers and unions to the workplace and to ONLY matters of Employer-Employee matters. Only about 3% of the private sector are UNIONIZED - Malaysian laws makes it very difficult to unionize still, and EMPLOYER still reject RECOGNITION of Unions, when they can simply agree >> sadly, even in Government-owned or controlled companies, GLCs > How many such companies even have trade unions? It should be 90-100% if Anwar Ibrahim and his government support worker tights ... so, one is AMUSED when the government tries to be the 'champion' of workers..
Like EMPLOYER, the Malaysian Government NEEDS workers, and is Happy with workers who just work and help employers make profits from their business,maybe more corporate tax for government.
So, PM Anwar's happiness with workers is akin that of an 'employer's happiness and appreciation of workers to work hard and help them make PROFITS and become RICH...RICH... RICH....but workers remain poor and desperate as to how they and their family can survive...
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today called on workers to continue supporting his government,.. NOT a call to continue to fight for BETTER worker rights...better UNION rights..
And, on the same day as Anwar's government organised May Day Rally - workers were protesting in front of the Human Resource Ministry in Putrajaya to demand justice, accountability, and the restoration of trade union rights. The protest was by Bank Workers from the National Union of Banking Employees. There was another protest in KL as well.
The rally which began at 10am was themed 'Voice of the Voiceless’ and was to demand justice, accountability, and the restoration of trade union rights.
And, he was, in my opinion, wrong to CLAIM that in 1998, thousands of workers supported him - I was there, and in my observation, the REFORMASI street protests that went on weekend after weekend was in fact - a protest about many of the failings of the government, including the increasing COST of living > Anwar should be honest, and not claim that it was to support Anwar Ibrahim solely or primarily...It was a protest against INJUSTICE. (Sadly, the 'false' perception was believed by some - Go ask the people who participated, got arrested, charged, tried...for their involvement in the REFORMASI Protest - yes, Anwar may have come up with the term 'REFORMASI' in the first protest he attended, but thereafter it was NOT a support Anwar protest... ???)
“People say I am a prime minister forged from the struggles on the streets, yes. And to look at history the thousands of demonstrators who supported me are mostly workers,” he said.CONDUCT a REFERENDUM amongst workers and/or Trade Unions, and Anwar will know HOW MANY workers support him? Bank Negara Malaysia in 2018 said that an individual(not including family) needs RM2,700 to survive - But Anwar's government just set MINIMUM WAGE at RM1,700 - and, is he concerned for workers? He could have set a MINIMUM WAGE of RM2,500 for employers earning more than RM1 million a year, or higher profits to protect small employers who make very little profits even to sustain themselves, let alone pay workers they need to help..?
Does this Anwar's government truly CARE about workers? Or it just 'appreciates' workers like employers - for their work and contribution to PROFITS for employers and ...? NOT keen to increase rights, or increase the capacity of workers/unions to fight even in the political arena.
The "8-8-8 rule" suggests dividing your day into three 8-hour blocks: one for work, one for sleep, and one for leisure or free time
If Anwar's MADANI government really respect workers - they will REDUCE the number of overtime hours. RESPECT the 8-8-8 Rule, not forgetting so much time is wasted traveling to and from work..
OT - workers in Malaysia have a choice to refuse? Reduce draconian OT limit of 104 hours/month to 50 hr/mth
MINIMUM WAGE - Bank Negara in 2018 said that an individual in Klang Valley needs RM2,700 to live, and today that amount is naturally higher as cost of living increases. But Anwar's Government set the MINIMUM WAGE at RM1,700, this is NOT CARING about workers - how will they get more money to survive?? 2nd JOB...more Overtime > all of which will DENY Workers of their 8 Hours Rest/sleep, and 8 Hours of Leisure to spend with their families, etc - Thus, Anwar does not really care for workers in Malaysia.
Since
February, the Anwar government has raised the minimum wage from RM1,500
to RM1,700 a month as well as increased civil service salaries by over
15 per cent, a move the prime minister cited as proof that he wanted the
best for workers.
## Increasing Minimum Wage obligation for the small employer that barely survives will cause great problems, even closure of small businesses. So, the Higher MINIMUM Wage could be set for employers who make more than RM1 million profits annually... Do not lump all employers as ONE - market vendors, small sundry shops in rural areas, etc
How did MAY DAY come about? It was because of a struggle to PROMOTE or BETTER rights enjoyed by workers then...
The origins of MAY DAY is because of such a struggle by workers/union, for at that time the workers were required to work for long hours, more than 10 hours - so the struggle was for "8 Hours for
work, 8 hours for rest, 8 hours for what we will!" - A BETTER RIGHT THAN WHAT EXISTED IN LAW OR EXISTING EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTS(OR Collective Bargaining Agreements)
May Day, day commemorating the historic struggles and gains made by workers and the labour movement, observed in many countries on May 1. In 1889 an international federation of socialist groups and trade unions designated May 1 as a day in support of workers, in commemoration of the Haymarket Riot in Chicago (1886).
In the early United States, labor unions were outlawed--they were considered to be illegal conspiracies in restraint of "free trade". That changed in 1842, when, in the Hunt case, the courts ruled that collective bargaining was legal and that workers could form unions and associations. At first, labor unions were small, weak, and rarely extended beyond the employees of one company. Most workers continued to be paid starvation wages, for which they worked as much as 12 hours a day, sometimes seven days a week. But as economic conditions for labor worsened after the Civil War (and the financial Panic of 1873 caused economic chaos), American workers became more militant.
When the 1877 national railroad strike broke out and paralyzed the entire country, no labor union had organized or led it--the strike had grown spontaneously from the railroad workers themselves. Over 100 strikers were killed in street battles across the country as President Rutherford B Hayes sent in State and Federal troops to crush the strike.
In response, workers in all industries began to organize, first with the Knights of Labor and then with the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions, which would later change its name to the American Federation of Labor.
In 1882, the Federation called for an all-out campaign of nationwide protest actions to win a law enforcing an eight-hour working day. To allow enough time for organizing and educational agitation, the starting date for this national campaign was set for May 1, 1884. On the appointed day, huge rallies and protest marches were held in every major city in the US. And the largest May Day demonstration happened in the leading industrial city of the US--Chicago. Over 80,000 of the city's workers marched up Michigan Avenue with signs that read "8 Hours for work, 8 hours for rest, 8 hours for what we will!" and "Shorter hours increases the pay!"
Chicago was the economic focus of the United States--a railroad hub and the focus of the meatpacking industry, and a center of construction and manufacturing. And, in response, Chicago also had the strongest, best-organized, and most militant labor movement in the country.
Two days after the May Day march for the 8-hour day, a crowd of protesters gathered at Chicago's McCormick Reaper plant, where workers had been on strike since February. During a speech, police, perhaps shaken by the size of the previous rally and march and fearing another mass demonstration, opened fire on the unarmed strikers, killing two.
In response to this shooting, local labor groups and anarchists met that night and planned a protest rally for the next evening, May 4, in Haymarket Square in the center of Chicago. Word had already gotten around, however, that there might be trouble at the protest (after all, police had already shot strikers the day before). As a result, only 2,500 people showed up at the Haymarket rally on the evening of May 4.
By 10:30 pm, it was dark and beginning to drizzle, and the crowd had already thinned to less than 300 as the last speaker, Fielden, mounted the wagon. As he spoke, the police arrived, led by Inspector John Bonfield, and some 200 officers formed up in phalanx. Bonfield ordered the crowd to disperse--Fielden responded with "We are a peaceable assembly." At that moment, someone (it was never established who) threw a homemade dynamite bomb into the police ranks. The explosion killed one officer and wounded a dozen more. In response, the police opened fire, killing four protesters.
The "Haymarket Riot" set off a storm not only in Chicago, but across the country. Martial law was declared in Chicago, and police raids were launched to shut down union halls and labor newspapers and arrest most of Chicago's labor leaders, and some were charged in court.
On August 20, the jury convicted all 8 defendants, and sentenced seven of them to death (the eighth, Neebe, received a sentence of 15 years). The trial, meanwhile, had become the focus of international protest.
On June 26, 1893, new Illinois Governor Altgeld signed an order releasing Fielden, Schwab and Neebe from prison, and retroactively pardoning the five dead Haymarket defendants. Altgeld concluded that the trial had been unfair and unjust, noting that the prosecution "never discovered who it was that threw the bomb which killed the policeman, and the evidence does not show any connection whatsoever between the defendants and the man who threw it," and that the defendants had been the victims of "hysteria, packed juries, and a biased judge."
In July 1889, at a convention of labor unions in Paris, delegates from the American Federation of Labor proposed that May 1st, the date of the original 8-hour day campaign that led to the execution of the Haymarket Martyrs, be declared "International Labor Day". The proposal was adopted unanimously. Since that time, May Day has been celebrated as Labor Day (usually as an official state holiday) in every industrialized country in the world from Mexico to Japan to Australia. Except one . . . in 1894, the United States officially set the first Monday in September, not May 1st, as "Labor Day".
Workers/Unions - the best strategy is to COME TOGETHER and fight for better rights ... against EMPLOYER, and/also the Government of the Day.
Bank workers hold peaceful rally themed ‘Voice of the Voiceless’
The rally was to demand justice, accountability, and the restoration of trade union rights.
Updated 19 hours ago · Published on 01 May 2025 4:12PM
BANK workers from all over the country held a peaceful demonstration in front of the Human Resources Ministry in Putrajaya today in conjunction with Labour Day.
The rally which began at 10am was themed 'Voice of the Voiceless’ and was to demand justice, accountability, and the restoration of trade union rights.
NUBE general secretary J. Solomon alleged that the Human Resources Minister held secret negotiations with banks that deprived 15,000 bank employees from the B40 and M40 groups of their rightful one-month Festival Aid for 2024 onwards.
He also claimed that the minister violated local laws and International Labour Standards of NUBE'ss rightful bargaining rights by referring the 20th Collective Agreement to the Industrial Court knowing that the employers did not convene a negotiation meeting.
Solomon claimed that the minister had also ignored complaints of workplace harassment.
"Such discriminative interference reflects a troubling disregard for workers protection and a failure to uphold the responsibilities of trade unions to defend their members.
"It is particularly disheartening for members that the minister, who is supposed to advocate for workers' rights, had colluded with banks to stifle union activities and has ignored NUBE's letters and formal requests," he said in a statement.
The rally was also to send a strong message to the Unity Government that these actions violate Malaysian labour laws and contravene International Labour Organisation (ILO) standards regarding freedom of association and collective bargaining. – May 1, 2025, VIBES
On Labour Day, PM Anwar asks workers to give his government a chance to improve livelihood
KUALA LUMPUR, May 1 — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today called on workers to continue supporting his government, telling them the fight to improve their living standards is far from over.
The prime minister was speaking at this year’s grand Labour Day celebration at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil here, where he vowed to continue to improve their livelihoods.
Since February, the Anwar government has raised the minimum wage from RM1,500 to RM1,700 a month as well as increased civil service salaries by over 15 per cent, a move the prime minister cited as proof that he wanted the best for workers.
“People say I am a prime minister forged from the struggles on the streets, yes. And to look at history the thousands of demonstrators who supported me are mostly workers,” he said.
“Now we have the ability to do things. So we appeal that you give (my) government space because the country is still not free from racial and religious feuds, between states and the federal government.”
Raising living standards was one of the two key developmental priorities Anwar announced when taking office.
Since then, his government has rolled out economic blueprints that it said would create more high-paying jobs. The government also put in place short term measures to raise salaries, such as the Progressive Wage Policy and raising the minimum wage by RM200.
“Our approach is not just to raise salaries, but we did it in a way that gave a bigger increment at the bottom and a smaller one at the top,” Anwar said.
“Why? Because we don’t want a situation in which the country prospers only for a small group of people, while the majority of workers are sidelined. Just as we talk about frontliners, they all contributed but somehow only those at the top were appreciated,” he added.
Anwar then asserted that he is the only prime minister to have resisted the pushback from employers when his government mooted raising the floor wage.
“That is why we raised the minimum wage. Believe me when we talked about this in the Cabinet meetings, the pressure (from employers) was strong. Some of them complained that raising the minimum wage would raise costs, it will deter investments,” he said.
“We said yes, we buy some of your arguments, but until when are we supposed to keep wages low? When can we raise their salaries so we can help them a little?”
The pilot for the Progressive Wage Policy is set to take place in June.
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