Thursday, May 21, 2009

Employer/employee power relations

Was in a dialogue session with Human Resource Ministry people.I learned a lot of stuffs on employer/employee rights (as well as power structure of the two). Didn't like what I found: Acts too old (1955/1967, etc) and although reps from the Ministry said they made some amendments recently, I still could not see how the welfare of the marginalised, the under-privileged are taken care of.Transparency is still an issue (masih byk lagi nak berahsia2 and certain employees of certain groups are not allowed to berkesatuan.Isn't this a free world? Who speaks for their rights?Where do they channel their grievances) Someone was saying the practice overseas is that union leaders get to sit with Board of Governors (I know EPF does this) and in Japan, the JCC works so well that any grievance raised could be solved amicably. We need to increase our JCC members at IIUM.Kull reps should be there as well.

The current Acts favour employers MORE than the employees esp. Employers Act.What a shocking discovery and I told one Dato (tak pasti apa kerjanya but someone said he's No. 2) how I came out of the dialogue disillusioned.Sebenarnya nasib pekerja tidak begitu terbela with the current Acts.

And I learnt this: if you are not happy with your current employer, your best choice is just to leave.Look for a kinder one. Cos' there's nothing in any Act to ensure you'd get what you want.The best thing any Act can do is to compensate you or give back your rotten job.

I guess that is better than nothing.

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