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TRADE UNION TRAINING ON INFORMATION

MANAGEMENT FOR UNION ORGANISATION, RESEARCH


AND EDUCATION
COURSE A3-01269.
(9 25 MARCH 2009)
TURIN, ITALY

COUNTRY REPORT ON MALAYSIA

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%

Number of membership and trade unions in Malaysia from 2002 to 2006


Year
Unions
Membership
2003
609
789,163
2004
611
783,108
2005
621
761,160
2006
631
801,585
Population
Total Labour
Force

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

Number of National Centers


The Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC) and the Congress of Unions of Employees in
The Public and Civil Services (CUEPACS) have both been recognised as national trade union
centers (TUC) by the Malaysian Government.
MTUC is registered in 1950 as a society under
the Societies Act 1966. Membership of MTUC is
available to any employee union whether in the
public sector or in the private sector.

CUEPACS is a federation of trade unions of


government employees unions based in
Peninsular Malaysia. It was first registered in
1959 under the law then regulating trade unions
& federations thereof, and was re-registered
under the TUA 1959. Membership is restricted to
public sector employee unions.
MEF The Malaysian
Employers Federation is
the
employers
equivalent
of
the
MTUC. It is registered
as a society (in 1978)

Website:
www.mef.org.my

500,000
members
[238
affiliates]
(2006)

www.mtuc.org.my

120,000
members
(2006)

www.cuepacs.org.
my

Membership are distributed according to their interests: (1) Ordinary Members


A - The Industrial Group
B - The Oil Group
C - The Commerce Group
D - The Transport Group
E - The Motor Trade Group
(2) Association Members
a. Commercial
Employers
Association
Peninsular
Malaysia
b. Motor vehicle Assemblers Association
c. Malayan Commercial Banks Association
d. Pan Malaysia Road Transport Operators Association
e. Malaysian Newspaper Publishers Association

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)

(1) Structure & Organization of Trade Unions


Unions in Malaysia are categorized as follows: (a) Public sector employees unions
- consists of civil services, the statutory bodies
and the local authorities,
(b) Private sector employees unions
- consists of either national or in-house unions,
(c) Employers unions.
Structure of national unions in Malaysia is as follow: National Executive Council (NEC)
I
Union Branch
I
Worksite Committee
Main Challenges Facing The Trade Union Movement
(1) Multi National Corporation (MNC) strong anti-unionism since 1970s.
(2) Restructuring of business Outsourcing, Mergers & Acquisitions, right-sizing and
downsizing.
(3) Legislative framework unfavorable national labour laws since 1960s.
(4) Competence Leadership should be dynamic, innovative and have strong sense of
direction (i.e. forward looking for the future of the union).
(5) Union Public Relations (PR) to publicize the positive things that Unions do for
employees and for society as a whole.
(6) Organising the Generation Y (1980s) also called, as knowledge workers are
typically not interested in trade union. Therefore, the failure to mobilize young people
will have greater consequence in the years to come.
(7) Organising the migrant workers With about 4 million migrant workers, majority of
them are not organised due to Government policy
(8) Delivery of service to members Unions have to set high standards of delivery on
members grievances, use of ICT and provide life long education opportunities (regular
training & development) for members
(9) Human Resource Management HR managers/specialists are getting better in their
jobs.
(10) More than 600 trade unions in Malaysia, why not all these unions are represented by
MTUC?

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

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