KUALA LUMPUR: Strict action should be taken against employers and agencies who are responsible for bringing in the 171 Bangladeshi workers but have failed to provide them with work or pay their salary for more than three months, says the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF).
Its president Datuk Dr Syed Hussain Syed Husman said a single source centre should be established at the Human Resource Ministry to eliminate practices that are degrading the country's image.
"MEF's position is very clear that stern actions should be taken against businesses, recruitment agents and other related parties who abuse their positions.
"MEF supports the most strict actions to be taken against those responsible as this involves human life's and image of the country. As a member of the Governing Body of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), MEF cannot support relaxed measures towards such serious cases," he said in a statement.
This is in the wake of an incident on Dec 20 in which 171 Bangladeshis marched to file a report after claiming that their agents had failed to provide them with jobs after three to six months.
The workers were detained on the same day and handed over to the immigration department for overstaying but had valid documents.
Syed Hussain cited the ILO Migrant Workers (Supplementary Provisions) Convention, 1975 (No. 143) which provides for measures to combat clandestine and illegal migration while at the same time setting forth the general obligations to respect the basic human rights of all migrant workers.
He said it also extended the scope of equality between migrants and locals to ensure equality of opportunity and treatment in respect of employment and occupation, social security, trade union and cultural rights, and individual and collective freedoms for persons who are migrant workers.
"The relevant ILO Conventions on migration provide tools for both countries of origin and of destination to manage migration flows and ensure adequate protection for migrant workers," he said.
He added that MEF fully supported the calls made by the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said for an immediate investigation into the recruitment agents responsible for duping migrant workers to secure jobs that were not available.
