The laws of the land, giving workers the right to form trade unions have been violated o­nce again, resulting in the ‘double sacking’ of Helen Mary, the secretary of the newly formed Kamaya Electrical Workers Union. In addition, the company has turned down the claim for recognition of the union o­n the flimsiest of excuses.

It is Union busting at its prime. A company who just can’t see a Union being formed. It needs to be crippled before they start asking for some decent demands. This seems to be encouragement to the workers in Malaysia. The union membership continues to decline as exploitation soars. This is a weird scenario but yes Union Busting is still the rule of the game.

Helen was sacked by Kamaya Elektric Sdn Bhd o­n 18 May 2005 for leading the formation of the union in Kamaya. Subsequently, barely five days after joining another company, Ultrawin Sdn Bhd, she was sacked again, o­n 17/6/05, o­n the grounds of her involvement in union activity in Kamaya. Helen was told by her new boss that Kamaya Sdn Bhd had telephoned him and passed o­n the information about her!

Helen has been victimized twice for doing something that the Federal Constitution and the Industrial Relations Act provide for, that is, the freedom of association and the right of all workers to form a trade union. Today she is penalised because she wanted to foram a union.

Kamaya’s criminal sacking of Helen, and obstruction of further employment elsewhere, have robbed her of a means to earn a living. However, not o­nly Helen but also the whole of the 250 odd? workforce of Kamaya, have been subjected to intense intimidation, witch hunting, suspension and interrogation since the union was accorded recognition by the Registrar of Trade Unions o­n 30 /4/05.

Immediately after the formation of the union, video cameras were installed in various parts of the factory to monitor their activities. Obviously Kamaya has inferred that the lack of video cameras earlier had prevented the management from detecting union formation activity in the workplace. So, from now o­n, Kamaya workers will work their daily 12 hours in an intimidating and oppressive environment where they will be spied o­n constantly by management through their high-tech cameras.

It is also strongly rumoured that the axe will next fall o­n the President of the union, Zaharuddin Zahid, and the treasurer, Kumaraguru. Kumaraguru has already been penalized by having his overtime withdrawn. Zaharuddin himself has been denied overtime for the past seven years because of his attempts to form a national electrical union in 1998.

The pressure o­n the Vice President, Mazlan Idris is so intense that he has expressed his desire to step down from his post. Mazlan has been singled out because the union uses his house address as its official address.

Kamaya’s union busting tactics have not stopped here. A number of workers have been taken by the management in its own vehicles to the Commissioner of Oaths in order to swear declarations that they were compelled to become members of the union. Another normal tactics from their old school of tricks.

With all these assaults by the company, the union is bleeding, and the Ministry of Human Resources is o­nly watching, hoping, for a quiet and swift death of the union. It has failed to come to the rescue of the workers, and take action against all the offences committed by the company.

Meanwhile, the company has turned down the union’s claim for registration, based o­n trivialities such as a misspelling and assumptions that workers were coerced to become members. The question is, when the Director General of Trade Unions has already registered the union, why should workers apply for recognition from the boss? Given the bosses’ animosity towards trade unions, there remains little chance of getting recognition. However, the law requires this absurd and irrational procedure.

The silver lining to all this is that Helen and her fellow workers are not about to bow out quietly. They are determined to fight to restrain Kamaya. They are determined to fight for justice. The action o­n Helen is a declaration of war by the bosses. The Workers together will fight this repression !

(http://parti-sosialis.org)

Ipoh, 22 June 2005