LIKE IT OR NOT – TRADE UNION ARE HERE TO STAY

LIKEIT OR NOT – TRADE UNION ARE HERE TO STAY- INDUSTRIAL COURT PRESIDENT

Industrial Court KL, 4^th. December 2007

” Whetheryou like it or not Mr. Goh , trade unions are here to stay , and you have toaccept the existence of the Kesatuan Pekerja pekerja GuppyPlastic Industries ( Guppy Plastics Workers Union )” said the Industrial Court President   the Hon , Dato Umi Kalthumbin Abdul Majid to the company General Manager,  Goh Boon King .

Guppy Plastics Industries is a household plastic productmanufacturer in Balakong Selangor with around 800 workers. The company’smanagement embarked on its union   busting activities since day one of theunion’s establishment. Just four days after the union wrote to the management,informing of the unions registration and office bearers, the managementimmediately suspended the entire union   committee. On the 4^thJun , 1998 , Goh Boon King issued suspension letters to the union President ,Vice president , Secretary , Treasurer and other   three working committeemembers , accusing them of anti company activities .

Since that day,the workers union has been fighting a hard battle, even to carry out its lawfulactivities. The management since Jun, 1998 has consistently harassed andvictimized union officials and members. On 18 ^th Jun 1998, the unionPresident , Secretary and Treasurer were sacked . Three years later in 2001 ,the union Vice President and Deputy Treasurer were also sacked for launching  a donation  campaign for one of their members who was ill .

Even though theunion has filed more than 20 complaints to the Industrial Relations Departmentbut the authorities mediocre   attitude has enabled the company toeffectively carry out its union busting! The 9 over years of  harassment, has created a climate of  fear among the workers . The workersnow fear to discuss or even mention the word ‘union ‘ in the company premises.

Despite themanagements high handed tactics, the union has strived   and tirelesslycontinued to initiate subscription collections and membership drives.

The CourtPresident slammed the management for having prohibitive clauses in itsworkers rules and regulation handbook. V.Selvam and A.Sivarajan, both membersof the PSM who represented the union today quickly pointed out how onesuch  clause which states that it is a serious offence to collect union  dues  with out prior permission  from the management isabsolutely against the law.

The GeneralManager denied carrying out any union busting activities and   informedthe court that the company practices and ‘open policy ‘ where supposedly anyemployee with problems could directly forward them to the Human ResourceManagement. The management also proudly mentioned how it took good   careof the workers by giving them free Mc Donald food vouchers .

The CourtPresident, however could read between the lines and concluded that the companyso called goodwill gestures and   ‘open policy’ only proved that themanagement did not want the union to exist .

The court thenrequested the management to do the following to end its union   bustingactivities ;

a)     Immediately remove all prohibitive clauses in the foreign workers contract thatprevents them   in joining the union

b)    Immediately remove clauses in the employees Rules and Regulation Handbook thatprevent the lawful activities of the union.

c)     Provide a room or space in the company premises for union activities.

d)    Regular meetings with a fresh union committee to trash outissues.

Thereconciliation meetings were postponed to March 2008, to enable the company thestudy the above proposals and to give time for the union to elect new membersto its working committee .

After9  years of struggle , the union has finally made head way to be able tofunction as a lawful registered   workers union in the company . It isindeed regrettable that even with the provisions in law , the registered unionhas to  struggle for nearly 10   years against union  bustingactivities before it can  even function as a effective workersrepresentative . The Human Resource Ministry has failed terribly to enforce thelaw and   penalize  union  busting bosses .

KesatuanPekerja-pekerja Guppy Plastic Industries have beenwaiting a long time . The battle has   just begun after 9 years . Theunion will continue to push forward for  membership and seek duerecognition .

Sivarajan

PSM