PUTRAJAYA: Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) has urged the government to abolish the third party contract system for support staff in certain public institutions as a means to help the bottom 40 per cent (B40) of Malaysians.
Workers, it argued, should be directly hired as government employees instead.
The party’s central committee member, R Rani said the contract system was in reality, making workers poorer.
“It has to be abolished. Take them on as government workers. Lift them up from the B40 (bracket). It’s a sure method of lifting them up.”
Rani was speaking to reporters after leading about 30 school security guards and maintenance workers to meet with representatives from the Education Ministry where their numerous grievances about the present third party contract system were highlighted.
PSM, she revealed, conducted a survey on 37 contractors serving schools all over Malaysia, and found various labour law violations as well as gross misconduct committed by a majority of the institutions that employed these workers.
This included late payment, failure to abide by minimum wage laws and failure to contribute to the Employees Provident Fund among others.
The root of the problem, according to Rani, was the contract system, where government agencies passed the responsibility of looking after the workers to the contractors, who were in most cases “unscrupulous” and victimised their employees.
When workers voiced their grievances, the ministry wanted nothing to do with the problem, as it was an employment dispute between contractors and workers and therefore should be settled with the Labour Department, she explained.
“We have complained to the Labour Department, but contractors would not show up for the arbitration meeting. Then we get ex parte decisions after some time, but contractors never pay the claims.
“So, workers just get victory on paper, but in reality, they never get wages owed to them and they end up with nothing when the contractor flees.”
Rani also pointed out that contract workers lacked other benefits, such as healthcare, pension, and job security as contracts were negotiated every two to three years.
She said government agencies should have a monitoring system for their contractors, to ensure labour practices adhered to the law and errant employers were punished.
Instead, she lamented, their contract got renewed, which seemingly made them immune to any action.
“We understand the need to create and empower entrepreneurs in the country, but it should not be done on the backs of the workers.”
PSM central committee member, S Arulchelvan was equally critical of the contract system that enabled contractors to hold on to the wealth, without having to pay their workers.
“Why can’t the school principle pay their support staff? These cleaning and security jobs are permanent and it’s not seasonal like construction work.
“We just have to cut the middle man that is there just to siphon the money. The government will save money that way.”
The same group of school security guards had on December 1, submitted a memorandum to the Human Resources Ministry, voicing the same labour law violations and unlawful practices by their employer.