SLO changes: Employers lament non-consultation
Published on: Sunday, February 17, 2019
KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Employers Association (SEA) lamented it was not made aware of the proposed amendments to the Sabah Labour Ordinance (SLO) as highlighted by Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran which are to be tabled at Parliament soon.
SEA noted that there will be substantial changes to the SLO and is concerned that the Ministry has proceeded without consulting Sabah employers first.
ADVERTISEMENT
“SEA wonders if the Sabah’s Ministry tasked with human resources matters has been informed of and made aware of the proposed changes,” SEA said in a statement.
“Some notable amendments are the 44-hour working week (10pc reduction in hours), wages to be paid through financial institutions only, deleting the annual 60 days accumulated sick leave rule and allowing flexible working arrangements without stipulating the mechanism, etc.
“The impact to business labour costs due to the proposed changes cannot be underestimated, concerning Sabah’s 40,000 businesses, of which almost 75pc or 31,000 small businesses employ less than five employees each.
“Not just having to service only a small local market, these small businesses also face challenges with an inefficient road network and inadequacies in utilities like electricity, water and Internet, resulting in higher costs of doing business relative to West Malaysia counterparts.”
ADVERTISEMENT
SEA said this overlook has highlighted the shortcomings with both the Federal and State human resource ministries in terms of ensuring that all relevant inputs have been proactively, adequately and promptly collected.
SEA said it believes that Kulasegaran should ensure that his Ministry practises an inclusive approach in enlisting only real representatives from all sides in order to collect real data and input for impartial evaluations of any measures present and in the future.
ADVERTISEMENT
“As at today, no effective representatives of Sabah employers are in key labour platforms such as the National Labour Advisory Council, Minimum Wage Consultative Council, Industrial Relations Court, Social Security Appellate Board, etc,” it said.
“Without actual representatives nominated by Sabah employers sitting in these platforms, SEA sees remote possibilities of actual on-the-ground inputs being submitted, let alone relevant information being disseminated down to employers in a timely manner.
“This unfair situation has been made known for many years, including Sabah’s ministry tasked with human resource matters. Suffice to say, decisions invariably are made without Sabah employers knowing, who are forced to accept after-the-fact.”
Moving forward, SEA said it believes that Kulasegaran will ensure that Sabah employers’ voices are heard and engaged together to contribute to the State’s economy.
“The first task is to re-initiate a review of the SLO, then engage nominated representatives by Sabah employers in key labour platforms to ensure consistent buy-in from Sabah businesses in making Malaysia compliant with international labour standards.”
Later, SEA President Yap Cheen Boon said the association is now glad that Kulasegaran will consider including Sabah representatives in the National Labour Advisory Council.
“But, in the meantime, we will try to form a Sabah Labour Consultative Council,” said Yap during a press conference held after a tripartite meeting between Kulasegaran, Malaysian Trade Union Council Sabah Branch and SEA plus nine employers’ representatives.
Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
Daily Express Malaysia
