Nelson, a Burmese migrant worker in a garments manufacturing firm in Penang, sounded frantic at the prospect of imminent deportation following his employer's decision to cancel his work permit.

A day earlier, he and four colleagues had gone to the local Labour Department to complain about their poor living and working conditions, and a host of wage deductions that left them with little to live on.

"What do I do now?" Nelson asked a local human rights activist over the phone. "Don't worry, we will help you,'' he was told.

But there was little activists or anyone else could do to stop the repatriation on June 4 of seven Burmese workers, including two of those who had gone to lodge the complaint.

The employer, based in Butterworth on mainland Penang in northern Malaysia, home to many export-oriented manufacturing and export operations, had ordered their work permits cancelled. The seven were then taken by bus to the capital Kuala Lumpur, where Burmese embassy officials assisted in deporting them home to Burma.
They were among a group of 25 migrant workers from Burma who had earlier been enticed to work in Malaysia with a guarantee that their total monthly wages including overtime would be not less than RM700 (US$184).

No signature of employer

The problem, however, was that the copies of the agreements the workers had in their possession were only signed by the recruitment agent in Burma and the workers concerned - but the signature of the employer was nowhere to be found.

When the workers arrived in Malaysia, they were shocked to find out that their take-home wages in some cases fell below RM100 (US$26.3) per month, and at other times between RM100 to RM200 ringgit (US$26.3 to US$52.6).

This was due to a host of wage deductions, not all of which had been approved by the Malaysian Labour Department as required by law.

These deductions included 50 percent of their pay taken away to repay government loans that financed their trip to Malaysia. After about a year when their loans had been settled, the monthly 50 percent deductions would then be remitted to their families, the workers said.

Another 10 percent was deducted for "Burmese income tax". There was also a monthly deduction for foreign workers' levies, and even a small deduction to pay for a company security guard.

If the workers made mistakes in sewing the garments, they were often made to pay for the defective garments. This reduced their meagre wages even further.

''Our meals usually consist of rice and salted fish,'' said one of the workers gloomily. The accommodation provided to them - dilapidated plank long houses where they are crammed seven to a room - appeared to be in appalling conditions, unfit for human habitation.

No one to help

Handicapped by language barriers, foreign migrant workers usually have no one to turn to for help in such situations.

When they visited a Labour Department on June 2 accompanied by Malaysian activists, an officer assured them that the department would be issuing a show-cause letter to the company later that week.

But the next morning, the workers were shocked to discover that seven of them, including Nelson, would be returned to Burma.

The employer argued that the workers were not the skilled workers he had asked for and that was why they were not given much overtime - which meant their gross income before deductions was sharply lower than the guaranteed US$184 a month.

''We are losing money and the workers lack motivation and productivity,'' said a senior officer at the firm.

The remaining workers, however, disagreed, pointing out that Nelson was an exemplary worker and suggested that he was penalised for seeking outside help.

''I think the structures and policies of the governments whether in Malaysia or in Burma are stacked against the migrant workers,'' said Joachim Xavier, the migrants desk officer of the Penang Office for Human Development, a church-based group.

"If there is going to be any change in this situation, it is not going be in dealing with individual complaints but in making a concerted effort to change the structures and policies, including those of local employers,'' he said.

Wages agreed upon by the recruitment agents' and the migrant workers in their home country must be binding in Malaysia, stressed Joachim.

He also observed that the take-home wages of migrant workers are in many cases well below those of their Malaysian counterparts. ''We must ensure that there is no disparity.''

Protect migrants' rights

Other activists have also urged the authorities to strengthen laws to protect the rights of migrant workers - Malaysia has some 750,000 documented migrant workers - and to come down hard on employers who regard migrant workers as no more than slave labour.

They also called on the Malaysian government to ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, which comes into force in July.

The 1990 convention provides binding international standards relating to the treatment and human rights of migrant workers - whether documented or undocumented.

In truth, the government needs to review the entire recruitment policy for migrant workers, says K Veeriah, secretary of the Penang division of the Malaysian Trades Union Congress. ''The recruitment should be through government- to-government agencies and there must be very specific terms of agreement relating to wages and other conditions of service.''

For one, he said, employers should not be allowed to cancel the work permits as they wish.

''The immigration department should not jump to the conclusion that the workers are illegal the moment the employers cancel the permits,'' he added. ''It should liaise with the Labour Department or Industrial Relations Department to see if there are any complaints of unfair labour
practice or unfair dismissal lodged by the workers.'' - IPS