State govt says still waiting for consultation before tabling Sarawak Labour Ordinance in Parliament

KUCHING, March 15 — The Sarawak government is still waiting for its request that it be consulted before any future amendment is made to the Sarawak Labour Ordinance (SLO) by the federal government to be approved, Deputy Minister in the Premier’s Department (Labour, Immigration & Project Monitoring) Datuk Gerawat Gala explained today.

He said that the consultation request is aimed at protecting the rights and interests of the workers in the state.

“This has been communicated to the Ministry for Human Resources and we hope with this, the amendment bill will be tabled by the ministry, together with the amendment to the Sabah Labour Ordinance in the next parliamentary session,” Gala told Malay Mail here.

He was asked to respond to Sarawak Bank Employees Union (SBEU) chief executive officer Andrew Lo’s statement relating to the amendment to the SLO yesterday.

He said his ministry has informed the Malaysian Trades Union Congress together with the leaders of other worker unions in the state about the status of the amendments, adding that they understood and appreciated why the amendment to the SLO takes time and the state government’s desire to have the amendments approved by Parliament as soon as possible.

He said there is no need to hold a picket by workers as Lo had suggested as it would not resolve the matter.

Gala said the Sarawak government has agreed to the other amendments to the SLO which incorporate recent amendments in the Employment Act, giving additional benefits to workers and the provisions of the Workers Minimum Standards of Housing And Amenities Act.

“A series of engagements and consultations on these amendments involving various stakeholders including government ministries and agencies and workers and employers representatives have been conducted to finalise the amendments,” he said.

He added he led the state government representatives in a meeting with the deputy human resources minister in Putrajaya on February 15 this year to follow up on the amendments which the state government had submitted much earlier.

He said during the visit of the Human Resource Minister to Kuching on February 20, 2024 he mentioned that the amendments to the SLO are in the final stage pending agreement between the ministry and the state government on the provision relating to future amendments to the SLO.

This followed Lo’s statement where he had expressed his deep regret that the SLO was still not amended despite the Employment Act having been amended twice in 2007 and 2021.

He had said it was a travesty that workers in Kelantan, controlled by PAS for decades, could enjoy better benefits and protection than workers in the high-income state of Sarawak.

He had said that the undue delay was unacceptable, claiming that Workers in Sarawak, especially the non-unionised employees, were worse off than their counterparts in Peninsular Malaysia and soon, Sabah.