Andrew Lo
KUCHING (March 14): The Sarawak Bank Employees Union (SBEU) has slammed the state government’s continued failure to amend the Sarawak Labour Ordinance despite the Employment Act having been amended in 2007 and again in 2021.
SBEU chief executive officer Andrew Lo said there is no excuse for the state not to amend the Labour Ordinance to be on a par with the Employment Act in Peninsular Malaysia since a World Bank economist had called Sarawak a high-income state.
“It is a travesty that workers in Kelantan, controlled by PAS (Parti Islam Se-Malaysia) for decades, can enjoy better benefits and protection than workers in the high-income state of Sarawak,” Lo said in a statement today.
Lo, who is also Labour Law Reform Coalition deputy president, said the Sabah Cabinet had in October 2022 approved the proposed amendment to the Sabah Labour Ordinance (SLO), standardising the Ordinance with the Employment Act in Peninsular Malaysia.
“It is expected some 2.04 million workers and over 187,000 employers in Sabah would benefit from the amendments, which amongst others, reduced weekly hours of work to 45 hours, extended maternity leave to 98 days, and introduced a seven-day paternity leave,” he said.
He called the delay in amending the Sarawak Labour Ordinance unacceptable.
He claimed workers in Sarawak, especially non-unionised employees, are worse off than their counterparts in Peninsular Malaysia and, soon, Sabah.
According to him, this infringes the constitutional right of equality under the law, allowing discrimination and exploitation of workers in East Malaysia.
He called on the Sarawak and federal governments to address the plight of Sarawakian workers.
“They must make sure the Sarawak Labour Ordinance is on par with the federal government’s Employment Act (Amendment) 2012 without further delay.
“We need to point out that all it takes is for the Sarawak State Cabinet to agree for the federal Ministry of Human Resources to table the Bill in Parliament. Sabah has already agreed. Workers may be forced to picket,” he added.
