The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) has welcomed the government’s decision to withdraw the Employment Insurance System (EIS) Bill, urging for a rational review of the strong opposition against the proposal. MTUC general secretary, J. Solomon, said the group has repeatedly called the Human Resource Ministry to discuss the issue with it to prevent the proposal from being executed without its agreement. “MTUC including all other parties are in favour of the EIS but that does not mean that the stakeholders accept in totality the laws that are out of context and unfavourable to workers to come into legislation,” he said in a statement. He said workers have since been invited for a discussion with the Finance Ministry tomorrow.
The EIS, which would allow retrenched workers to claim a portion of their insured salary for between three and six months of unemployment as well as allowances, was tabled for first reading in the Dewan Rakyat last week. Employers have since expressed misgivings over the proposed law that would provide a safety net for retrenched and unemployed workers, citing the added cost as well as apparent redundancies.
Source: MTUC
