Image credit: Financial Times
KUALA LUMPUR: The Human Resources Ministry should be the only agency in charge of the recruitment and management of migrant workers for the sake of efficacy.
The Malaysian Employers' Federation (MEF) said the ministry should be empowered to do this under the "One Channel System".
MEF president Datuk Dr Syed Hussain Syed Husman in a statement today said the ministry could get all the requirements approved instead of cross ministry involvement which wasted too much time on bureaucracy and added costs.
"As the custodian of labour matters which oversees employers and unions, the ministry should be the one stop centre.
"It has to be single source where communication can be much faster, and issues resolve better. This has to be done by the Human Resources Ministry. We must be clear that all labour matters should be managed and monitored by it."
Syed Hussain said the ministry was also the country's labour regulator and as such had the enforcement capacity to manage the matter.
"A one stop centre under the said ministry could resolve most of the issues on recruitment and management of foreign workers."
Syed Hussain said due to the freeze on recruitment of foreign workers and the inability to replace those whose Temporary Employment Visit Pass (PLKS) expired over the last two years employers were facing serious shortages of workers.
"Businesses are losing billions and the longer we wait the more we lose. For instance, oil plantations face an acute shortage of harvesters that continue to result in revenue loss of more than RM 1 billion per month for planters. This is also loss of income to the government due to loss in palm oil yield.
"The palm oil industry may not be able to compete with Malaysia's neighbours due to higher cost of sales and wastage. As such the government should urgently address the shortage of more than 75,000 workers in the plantation sector."
Syed Hussain said although the government approved the intake of 32,000 new foreign workers in September 2021, the workers had yet to arrive in Malaysia.
"The construction sector in the country is also facing a serious shortage of workers causing some major construction projects to fall behind schedule.
"Shortage of workers have also severely impacted production especially for the Electrical and Electronic industries, disrupted supply chain and business operations resulting in delays and being unable to meet new orders from both local and foreign buyers," he said.
In this scenario, he said, it was crucial all parties worked together to get the economy back to track.
"There are many challenges ahead of us and it's not getting easier. We know the ministry is doing its level best. But by having too many ministries involved cannot solve the delays in bringing new foreign workers urgently.
"Under the tripartite principles Employers and Employees and their Trade Unions have many meetings with the ministry to discuss labour policies and resolve human resources matters.
"The ministry officials from the Labour Manpower Department, Skill Development Department and DOSH are well aware of the situation on the ground."
Source: https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2022/02/772303/human-resources-ministry-should-be-sole-agency-dealing-migrant-workers