Among the recommendations put forth by the Migrant Workers’ Right to Redress Coalition are for employers to contribute to social security (Socso) and pension schemes similar to which is done for locals.
The other privileges sought for migrant workers include lower medical charges (compared with other foreigners), no more caning of migrant workers in detention centres, allowing migrant workers to hold their own passports and removing private recruitment agencies as a middleman in hiring migrants.
The recommendation comes after a two-month discussion between coalition members, the human resources and health ministries, the high commissions of India and Sri Lanka, and the embassies of Bangladesh, Indonesia and Myanmar.
Parti Sosialis Malaysia central committee member Rani Rasiah said the benefits were possible as the government collected RM2 billion in levy charges from migrant workers every year.
“We do not know how the money is utilised by the government. That amount of money collected can be used to improve the lives of migrant workers in Malaysia who sometimes work for more than 10 years in the country,” she said at a press conference here today.
Others under the coalition who attended the press conference were North South Initiative executive director Adrian Pereira, Persatuan Sahabat Wanita Selangor adviser Irene Xavier and Tenaganita programme officer Fajar Santoadi.
She said migrant workers should also be allowed to hold their own passports, adding employers or agencies that withhold workers’ passports should be brought to task.
“It is so easy to be undocumented. The passports are held by the employers or the middlemen agents. Sometimes the foreign workers run away because they are unhappy with the employers as there are a lot of problems between employers and employees.
“To prevent this, if the workers hold their own passports, then they should be allowed to change employers. This is especially relevant in the construction sector, which has one of the highest turnover of employees.
“In this way, these migrant workers will stop losing their jobs and also with their passports, they remain documented workers,” Rani said, adding that such workers will then not end up in detention centres, where sometimes they are whipped, under the law, for immigration offences.
According to government estimates, there are four million undocumented workers and two million documented workers in Malaysia.
Rani said during the two-month round-table discussions with the ministries, they had come to a consensus to adopt a government-to-government mechanism for recruitment and management of migrant workers.
“Everyone agreed that there should not be any element of profiting. There should be total abolition of private agencies’ involvement.”
This included recruitment fees covering visa, levy, health, insurance and air fare, all of which should be paid by the employers instead, she added.
North South Initiative programme manager Anne Beatrice said money from the levy could be channelled towards Socso and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF).
“Malaysia used to provide such facilities in the 80s. But in the 90s it was cancelled because sometimes the workers died while in their home countries and no one knew about it.”
She said the system could work with EPF working closely with relevant embassies.
Tenaganita programme officer Fajar Santoadi said foreign workers should be treated the same as Malaysian workers.
“There should be no difference between migrants and Malaysians when it comes to charges imposed during recruitment.”
Supporting this idea, North South Initiative executive director Adrian Pereira said foreign workers should fall under the Employment Act.
The act states that workers should work for eight hours per day and overtime should be optional. They should not be forced to work an extra maximum of four hours a day.
“They should be provided with a detailed monthly salary statement with the deductions shown in the statement,” he said.
Pereira said the recommendations would be submitted to the human resources ministry next month.