A trade union leader has asked the government to make a clear distinction between freedom of association and industrial harmony, saying that employer-employee relationship was distinct and different from workers' freedom to organise a union at the workplace.

"The issue here is freedom of association. We're talking about the rights of workers to form unions, participate in and be involved with the trade union movement," Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) president Syed Shahir Syed Mohamud said when contacted today.

"What about the thousands of workers or more than 90 percent of the workforce that are yet to be unionised?," he also posed.

He was responding to the government's adamance against ratifying the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise 1948, or better known as Convention 87.

Yesterday, Human Resources Minister Dr Fong Chan Onn said the government will not bow to pressure from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) which is pushing for the ratification of Convention 87.

The ILO recommendations were aimed at harmonising labour laws and international standards on freedom of association following a series of complaints from the MTUC over the last 15 years, but the government has ignored them.

Outstanding issues

Fong believed that since Malaysia already has a "fairly harmonious" industrial relations, there was no need to ratify Convention 87.

Agreeing with the minister, Syed Shahir however noted that it was "not good enough".

"For example, Malaysia has a fairly good relationship with Singapore, but we also have many outstanding issues that have not been resolved."

Fong said the reasons for not ratifying the conventions or adopting the recommendations had already been given to the MTUC.

When asked for details, the private sector umbrella union head said the more important factor is whether the MTUC agrees with the government's stand on this.

"You can give your reason, but whether or not it is satisfactory to us is a different matter. We may not necessarily agree with you.

'There are a number of conventions that the government has ratified, some it has withdrawn and some others it has not complied with. But once ratified, it must be incorporated in national law

Noting the government's tone, Syed Shahir said the ILO as a world labour body was only trying to get governments to incorporate international labour standards and freedom principles into domestic laws.

"They did not say anything extraordinary. The recommendations are to uphold the principles of freedom of association as every worker's right."

He also said that some governments had not ratified certain conventions.

"For instance the US, the so-called champion of democracy, has also not ratified a number of conventions, but I'm not saying that the Malaysian government is thus justified in not doing so.

"All I'm saying is that ratifying conventions will not jeopardise the country's interests, so there is absolutely nothing to fear."

Malaysia has yet to ratify two of the eight core ILO conventions, namely on child labour and discrimination, which uphold the fundamental rights of workers. One has been denounced.

Syed Shahir promised to continue pushing the government to ratify Convention 87.

"I don't see any problems in doing this. We will continue what we've been doing (in trying to get ratification). If Indonesia can ratify the convention, why hasn't Malaysia done it?"

NUBE crisis

Meanwhile, Fong confirmed today that the meeting scheduled for tomorrow between the two National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) factions and the MTUC leadership had to be cancelled.

"One of the groups refused to attend. We were supposed to meet tomorrow and sort things out between the parties but unfortunately, the meeting has to be cancelled.

"However, we will keep trying to bring together all the relevant parties to resolve this crisis," he added, but declined to give further details.

In January, the MTUC announced that it was working on a fresh approach to resolve the NUBE crisis following a meeting with Fong, but has revealed nothing since.

NUBE officials were unavailable for comment.

Last December, following an application for a judicial review, the Kuala Lumpur High Court (Appellate and Special Powers Division) ruled that the Director-General of Trade Unions has no power to call for fresh polls to resolve the impasse.

The appeal hearing on the powers of the DGTU to determine the legitimacy of the NUBE leadership will continue on Monday.

The hearing over the alleged RM1.2 million misappropriation of NUBE funds has been fixed for May 3 and 4.