Contradictory positions by two top MTUC leaders on a key bill come just a month after the election of the congress’s new president ended a six-year leadership crisis.
00:00Conflicting statements by top Malaysian Trades Union Congress officials over a proposed law for gig workers have once again underscored the ongoing leadership turmoil in the country's largest labor umbrella body, a union leader says.
00:16National Union of Hotel, Bar and Restaurant Workers Peninsula Malaysia Secretary-General Rusli Afandi said it was important for MTUC to present a consistent message on the Gig Workers' Bill 2025 in the spirit of solidarity, adding that right now the government can see that MTUC is divided.
00:37MTUC President Halim Mansour and Secretary-General Kamarul Baharin Mansour delivered differing messages on the bill earlier this week, with Kamarul saying on Tuesday the claim that MTUC supported the bill, which seeks to provide recognition and protection for gig workers, was misleading.
00:55Kamarul said the union's general counsel had unanimously decided that the bill should be deferred until the Human Resources Ministry held consultations with the Congress and that MTUC had written to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Human Resources Minister Stephen Sim, urging them to defer the bill.
01:15Hours later, Halim said the Congress backed the proposed legislation and that this was MTUC's official stand on the matter as he was the president, while the Dewan Negara passed the bill later on Tuesday after a debate involving 18 senators.
01:33Simms said before the bill was passed by the Dewan Rakyat that it had the backing of unions including from MTUC and other groups representing gig workers,
01:42even as the contradictory positions came just a month after Halim was re-elected as president ending a six-year leadership crisis.
01:52Workers rights activist Callistus Anthony DeAngelis said the Human Resources Ministry seemed to have pushed through the bill in haste, saying a thorough consultation was needed as gig workers were among the most exploited categories
02:06and the government must not take advantage of or further accentuate any differences in MTUC.
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