MTUC against further levy on employers

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) has welcomed Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim’s intention to reduce dependency on foreign workers.

MTUC general secretary G. Rajasekaran also welcomed the state government’s move to equip local youths with additional skills.

However, the umbrella body of trade unions is against the move to impose a levy on employers of foreign workers.”There is no need to impose any further levy on employers, which we believe will be deducted from the foreign workers’ meagre salary.”

Khalid had proposed the levy to fund the training of youths, who would eventually replace the foreign workers. Rajasekaran said that the government had been collecting one per cent of the monthly payroll from employers for the Human Resource Development Fund (HRDF) had thus far accumulated more than RM200 million currently .

He added that any move to impose another levy would burden the foreign workers.

Khalid said the 1.5 million foreign workers in the state was one of the reasons why many youths could not find jobs.

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