The Employment (Amendment) Bill 2011, which received strong resistance from opposition members of Parliament, was passed after undergoing more than five hours of debate in Dewan Rakyat yesterday.
In tabling the second reading of the bill, Minister of Human Resources S. Subramaniam said the amended act was to enable a more systematic monitoring and control of labour supply agencies especially in isolated areas.
Apart from that, the ministry would also have a comprehensive record of workers to facilitate monitoring.
In winding up the debate on the bill, Subramaniam said the registration of sub-contractors with the ministry would also ensure outsourcing was not a culture of the employment sector.
The issue of labour supply agency registration was hotly debated by opposition members who wanted the bill to be repealed and the recruitment of workers as well as their welfare to be managed directly by the employer.
Among those who objected to the bill were Abdullah Sani Abdul Hamid (PKR-Kuala Langat), M.Kulasegaran (DAP-Ipoh Barat) and Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj (PSM-Sungai Siput).
“The Malaysian Trades Union Congress is also not in favour of the bill and they held a picket outside the Parliament on Monday,” said Abdullah Sani.
Debating for the bill were Bung Moktar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan) and Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar (BN-Rembau).
– Bernama
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