Employment Act 1955 Needs Improvements, Says HR Minister

Human Resources Minister M. Kula Segaran said that the Employment Act 1955 does not adequately protect low-wage employees and needs to be more competitive. 

The minister said there has been a meeting to encourage equal protection for all employees and it is important that the Human Resources Ministry amends the Employment Act 1955 so the rights of all workers are protected. Kula said the ministry plans to extend the application of the Employment Act 1955 to cover all employees, regardless of their wages in order to end workforce discrimination.

“The Employment Act 1955 has helped some successful economies lower their number of working hours per day without affecting productivity and some reports have even claimed increased productivity," Kula said.

He also said that it's not an easy feat to balance employers' and employees' happiness, which is why he emphasised the need to conduct the National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC) meeting every month since January even though it is only required to be held twice a year.

Creating high-quality talents

Additionally, Kula said that the Malaysian Employers Federation and Malaysian Trades Union Congres are stakeholders in the NLAC. He mentioned that they understand that the key to creating more jobs is to ensure the balance of a healthy business-friendly environment.

“There is no lack of high-skilled jobs. However, there is an unsatisfactory quality of talent being produced due to Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions not being given the attention and relevance earlier," He said.

Kula added that there was also a lack of awareness about the importance of these institutes and how they can produce the future human capital. He mentioned the Pakatan Harapan government have allotted many incentives to TVET for skill creation in the 2019 Budget. 

Human Resources Minister, M. Kula Segaran. Source: Bernama

The minister said the Labour Market Information Analysis has produced the National Wages Index (NWI) as a guideline and benchmark for employers to determine the level of salaries to employees based on their qualification, skills and productivity.

He said the NWI has shown an increase in the percentage of basic salary (8.2%) for the period of September 2016 and June 2018.

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Source: The Sun

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