45-HOUR WORKING WEEK EFFECTIVE SEPT 1
KUALA LUMPUR | Amendments to the Employment Act 1955, regarding the reduction of weekly working hours from 48 to 45 hours, will be enforced from Sept 1, the Dewan Negara was told today.
Deputy Minister of Human Resources, Datuk Awang Hashim, said that the amendments were to safeguard the welfare of workers and provide flexibility in working hours, in line with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention.
“In addition, the amendments also introduce a new section on flexible work arrangements, to allow employees to apply to employers to carry out work according to the suitability of working hours, working days or workplaces, including working from home for emergency situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As of today, there is no proposal or engagement for us to set four working days a week, at the ministry level,” he said when answering Senator Nasir Hashim’s question about the government’s stance on four working days in a week, especially in the private sector, during the question and answer session at the Dewan Negara today.
INTERNAL SYSTEMS EFFICIENCY IMPROVED; LEARNING SESSIONS AT SCHOOL STRENGTHENED
KUALA LUMPUR | The Ministry of Education will increase the efficiency of internal systems to enable school management to implement classroom learning sessions more efficiently.
Senior Education Minister, Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin, informed the Dewan Negara sitting today that efforts to improve the efficiency of the system were due to complaints from teachers about the difficulty of entering the same reporting data in several different systems.
“We are developing a system, such as centralised reporting, where they only need to enter the data once and it can be shared with various parties if needed.
“In addition, the ministry also decided to build a special system to enable school management to prepare timetables more efficiently and effectively,” he said, in his reply to Senator Robert Lau Hui Yew’s question about the government’s action plan to reduce the workload of teachers.
FADILLAH: CONSTRUCTION SITES SAFER, HEALTHIER FOR WORKERS
KUALA LUMPUR | Construction sites in the country are getting safer and healthier for workers, said Senior Works Minister, Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof.
He said that this was proven when a total of 348 projects received a five-star rating through the Safety and Health Assessment System in Construction (SHASSIC), implemented by the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) since 2008.
“In 2019, a total of 58 projects were awarded a five-star rating, compared with only 48 projects in 2016. This is an increase of 21 per cent.
“Projects that received a one-star rating also decreased. In 2021, only one out of 62 projects received one star,” he said during a question-and-answer session at the Dewan Negara, in response to Senator Nuridah Mohd Salleh’s question regarding the effectiveness of SHASSIC in solving safety issues at construction sites.
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