Professional Documents
Culture Documents
BY
NASRIFAH BINTI SUKARNI
MTUC - MALAYSIA
Brief note of the state of trade unions, including extend of unionization, number of
national centers, structure and organisation of trade unions, main challenges facing
the
trade union movement.
Trade union density in Malaysia is considered low. The decline in density is due to several
factors (i.e. lowered worker interest, more pro-employer legal environment, tougher
economic environment and growth of human resource management).
Year
Density
1990
9.35%
1995
9.24%
2000
7.87%
2002
8.5%
2004
7.84%
2006
7.8%
2005
26.13 million
2006
26.64 million
2007
27.17 million
10.89 million
10.72 million
10.97 million
2010
NA
Projection
11.97 million
Although, the number of unions has been steadily increasing but Malaysian unions are
generally small - mostly are newly registered unions are in-house unions because by the
1980s, a national union already existed in each of the major industries in the country;
fragmented i.e. based on trades, occupations, industries and establishments and regional
i.e. Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak. This is due to the strict requirements of the
Trade Union Act 1959.
YEAR
UNIONS
198
6
401
198
8
414
199
0
468
199
2
479
199
4
501
199
6
516
199
8
531
200
0
563
200
2
581
200
4
611
200
5
621
200
6
631
Website:
www.mef.org.my
500,000
members
[238
affiliates]
(2006)
www.mtuc.org.my
120,000
members
(2006)
www.cuepacs.org.
my
The MEF academy offers training courses in the area of Industrial Relations such as labour
laws, discipline and collective bargaining, Human Resources Management and OSH to its
affiliates (employers)
Description of the use/application of information technology within their trade union and
within labour movement in their country, including needs identification in the context of IT
(what is needed at their union level?)
Overall, the usage of Information Technology within the labour movement in Malaysia is still
very low. Majority of the national and in-house unions in Malaysia do not have their own
website or use the Internet as a new tool to communicate with their members.
The MTUC website i.e. www.mtuc.org.my provides various important information and
statistics, such as latest MTUC activities, press statements, education programs, OSHinformation, court awards and also the consumer price index (CPI) for the affiliates and
other organizations.
Unions in Malaysia should be encouraged to use ICT as: (1) Modernization tool administration
(2) For easier and faster communication with unions members
(3) To organize the e-generation - who are more reliance to the ICT to conduct their daily
lives- instead of old method of organizing i.e. relying on off-work meetings, home
mailings and phone calls to these non-members
(4) As an avenue for workers/members to do research and obtain labour related information
(5) To coordinate and organise boycotts, on local and international levels.
Obstacles to the application of e-union in Malaysia would include: (1) Language barriers the national language as preferred medium of instruction and
communication
(2) A large number of workers still without access to an Internet terminal.
(3) Investment in ICT i.e. initial set-up and the maintenance of internet access and web
hosting
(4) Senior union leaders are complacent and will challenge the new ideas of using ICT to
conduct union activities
Reference:
(a) The future of the trade union movement in Malaysia by Nagiah Ramasamy, Universiti
Putra Malaysia. This paper was presented at the MTUC/ACILS National Workshop held
on 21-22 January 2008
(b) The role and responsibilities of trade unions: whats changing, whats not by
Maimunah Aminuddin. This paper was presented at the MTUC/ACILS National Workshop
held on 21-22 January 2008
(c) Report of The General Council 2005 2007 at the MTUC Triennial Delegates
Conference held on 17-18 December 2007
(d) The role of the labour movement in the 21 st century. This paper was presented at the
MTUC 2-Day Symposium held on 14-16 April 1997 in Langkawi, Kedah
(e) Malaysian Industrial Relations and Employment Law 6 th Edition (2007), Maimunah
Aminuddin, Mc Graw Hill Education