The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) reiterated its call for an amendment to Section 20 of the Industrial Relations Act 1967 to duly protect the rights of worker, following the lodging of another complaint to the congress today.

MTUC secretary-general G Rajasekaran told reporters this morning that the Human Resources Ministry and its industrial relations department (IRD) seemed to be promoting unfair labour practices, instead of upholding fair and just labour ethics because of implementation procedures related to Section 20 of the act.

Inquiry and investigation

A former journalist with The Sun newspaper K Ravindran, 53 lodged his complaint to MTUC after his appeal to refer his retrenchment to the Industrial Court was rejected by the ministry.

Ravidran, who was with the paper since 2000, had his employment terminated at the end of December 2001.

Prior to the termination notice, the journalist had received a renewal contract from the company's human resource department, but he was told by the management later that the contract was "done in error" and further cited company financial difficulties for the termination decision.

Rajasekaran said the journalist and the company could not draw a settlement during the conciliation held by the IRD as the journalist was not satisfied with the six months wages compensation that the company had offered.

The major role of IRD - which is under the Human Resources Ministry - is to provide conciliation service and advise the minister to refer industrial relations matters to the Industrial Court.

The minister is empowered to refer cases according to Section 20 of the Industrial Relations Act.

Commenting o­n the journalist's case, Rajasekaran criticised the IRD for not carrying out "due inquiry and investigation" but merely submitted a report to the minister with a "one-sided story and in favour of the employer".

"The department did not even meet the complainant (Ravidran). It just heard from the company which stated that it was facing financial problem. The ministry should look into the legalistic part as to whether the staff was terminated with valid reason and duly compensated."

Rajasekaran stressed the need for an amendment to the law to allow cases to be directed automatically to the Industrial Court if the employer and its employee could not draw an amicable settlement o­n their own.

"At least the court will hear both sides. In this case, the employee was not even given a chance to be heard by the IRD," he pointed out..

Court 'overloaded with cases'

According to Rajasekaran, the ministry's explained that the "court was overloaded with bulky cases" when MTUC first raised the amendment issue two years ago.

"That was the reason why the ministry felt that discretionary powers to refer cases should still be left to the minister."

The secretary-general said MTUC is expected to submit a memorandum compiling all "wrongful dismissal" complaints over the past three years to the ministry by this month so as to prove an urgent need for the amendment.

Ravidran's lawyer, A Sivanesan, who was also present this morning said a summons has been served o­n The Sun to defend its dismissal decision at the Shah Alam sessions court o­n July 3.

Meanwhile, another group of 20 people from a Japanese-owned company located in Nilai, 4M Industrial Sdn Bhd, were also present to hand over their "wrongful dismissal" complaint to Rajasekaran.

The group, led by Rusnita Amirdin claimed they represented 160 workers whose services had been terminated. They received the termination notice o­n April 3, notifying them that their last day with the company would be o­n Tuesday (May 13).

"The company said it is closing down and has retrenched us but we learn that it will operate until the end of next year," Rusnita said.

The workers said they would lodge a formal complaint to the IRD next Monday.

The company, established in 1999, manufactures Perlite-filled plywood insulation boxes counts Malaysia International Shipping Corporation Berhad (MISC), a subsidiary of Petronas, as a major client