This follows a report of a company in Nilai firing 30 locals and allegedly replacing them with foreign workers.

MTUC secretary-general Kamarul Baharin Mansor said the company had taken advantage of the government’s efforts to resolve labour shortages in various sectors by employing foreign workers and terminating the services of local workers.

“The government must control the entry of foreign labour and ensure local workers are not affected by the greed of employers who want to hire foreigners,” he said in a statement.

Kamarul said the government should set a timeframe to move the country away from the dependence on foreign labour and prepare a white paper on the matter.

He added that employment opportunities for local workers should be promoted and called for their wages to be increased.

“There have been many concerns over forced labour regarding foreign workers and this had prevented Malaysian products from being sold on the international market,” he said, adding that this could be resolved by employing more local workers instead.