The six unions are the National Union of Transport Equipment and Allied Industries Workers; Paper and Paper Products Manufacturing Employees’ Union; three branches of the Electronics Industry Employees Union; and the National Union of Textile, Garment, Leather, Fibre and Plastics.

The memorandum was received by Dr Kelvin Yii, the political secretary to human resources minister Steven Sim, at the Parliament building where over 100 unionists held a peaceful protest.

According to the memorandum, Gopal Kishnam Nadesan, the secretary of IndustriALL Malaysia – an international union confederation – flagged six cases of union busting involving six companies, which were documented from 2013 till this year.

The tactics include firing labour activists, intimidation of workers before and during a secret ballot process for union recognition, employers’ interference in a secret ballot process, and delaying collective bargaining process with workers following a secret ballot process.

Gopal said the unions were disappointed that these cases had not been acted upon “fairly and transparently” by the authorities.

They then listed four demands to the government, namely, forming a “high-level” task force to look into union-busting cases and enforcing the Industrial Relations Act 1977 (Act 177) by charging employers who commit union busting.

They also called on the government to reform laws and regulations to prohibit employers from engaging in union-busting activities and to guarantee that the collective bargaining process commences within 60 days after a secret ballot process by the union.

“We ask that the government accept and implement our demands immediately.

“We (also) ask that the human resources ministry hold regular meetings with the unions on further actions on these cases until all disputes are resolved in a fair, professional manner,” added Gopal.