PETALING JAYA | The human resources ministry has offered to help the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) resolve its suspension by the Registrar of Societies (RoS).
In a statement today, it said it viewed the matter seriously and with great concern.
It wanted to work with MTUC “in safeguarding the rights and interests of half a million workers that it represented”.
“MTUC, being the main umbrella body for trade unions in Malaysia, has a historical role in safeguarding the rights of workers in Malaysia.
“Any prolonged suspension of MTUC would affect the workers who had relied on MTUC’s assistance all this while in many ways,” the statement said.
“If MTUC’s leadership is in need of the human resources ministry’s help to reason out matters with RoS or the home ministry, our doors are always open.”
In a letter dated Dec 18, the RoS had given MTUC 30 days to explain why it should not be deregistered.
MTUC secretary-general J Solomon was told during a meeting with Selangor RoS yesterday that an earlier notice, dated Dec 16, had been rescinded. This came after a screenshot of the notice went viral on social media even though MTUC claimed it had not received it.
The RoS official told Solomon that MTUC was barred from holding meetings until it submits a written explanation in 30 days.
The official did not go into the reasons for the suspension.
In a statement, RoS said it received a complaint on July 2 about mismanagement in MTUC and opened an investigation the following month.
The suspension comes amid a war of words between MTUC and the human resources ministry over the Labour Laws Reform (LLR) Bill, which the union said was being bulldozed without consultation with stakeholders.
MTUC is part of the National Joint Labour Advisory Council and makes representations for the International Labour Organisation.
