“至于在巴生市中心柯峇央路营业的外籍商家，必须依合法管道向市议会申请营业执照，以便获准在原地继续营业。”
莫哈末亚希今日在主持巴生市议会常月会议后说，柯峇央路一带共有144个店家，其中43个由没有营业执照的外籍商家持有。
“这些外籍商家在当地营业超过10年，市议会之前无法鉴定他们为商家，因为往往在取缔行动中被告知这些外劳都是员工。”
他说，市议会并不鼓励外籍商家营业，所以通过上述方式控制有关局势。
“因为在现有严谨的营业执照申请条件下，外籍人士一般上很难申请到营业执照。”
新闻来源: Selangorku.com
Please be informed that companies in the distributive trade services sector are required to comply with the Guidelines on Foreign Participation in the Distributive Trade Services Malaysia issued by the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism. According to the Guideline, foreign involvement is restricted in certain sectors as outlined below.
Therefore applications for any long-term pass (more than 3 months) including Employment Pass (DP10) for companies in these sectors is NOT ALLOWED. You may refer to http://www.kpdnkk.gov.my for more information.
Restricted sector for foreign involvement under the Guidelines on Foreign Participation in the Distributive Trade Services Malaysia
News source: ESD Website
Part of the Rehiring program‘s process is to collecting thumbprint from illegal foreign workers in Malaysia. This was done after employers submitted the application and accepted to legalise their foreign workers. A PATI letter will also issue together with “Registration Slip of Employer / PATI”. The PATI letter come with the QR code to access to online check on worker legalisation status.
Here’s the short video walk through the process of collecting thumbprint.
Once completed this step, these foreign workers are one step from getting the work permit / visa sticker. At the meantime they will have a peaceful of mind to go around the town without worrying about the “operasi” to detain them for being illegal workers.
Malaysia Singapore Coffee Shop Proprietors’ General Association president Ho Su Mong said food operators would be badly affected by the decision, with many of them forced to close their shop early due to lack of workers.
He claimed that 5,000 foreign workers would leave the country by June 30 and most of them would not return.
“Many restaurants may shorten their operating hours as they are depending on foreign workers.
“ln Sabah alone, about 2,000 restaurants will have to operate on a half-day basis due to the problem,” he said after holding a meeting with the representatives of the main associations here today.
The other associations were Malaysian Indian Restaurant Owners Association (Primas), Malaysian Muslim Restaurant Owners Association, Perak Sundry Shop Guild and Malaysia Hawkers and Petty Traders Association.
Primas president T. Muthusamy said the government’s decision insisting only foreigners who were already in the country should be employed was not practical.
“Many of the illegal immigrants are not willing to come out and register for work,” he said adding that the associations had sent a memorandum on the issue to Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi recently.
On March 12, Zahid announced employers were no longer allowed to take in new foreign workers and they should instead make do with those already in the country.
Zahid was quoted as saying that employers could take advantage of the rehiring programme as it would allow them to recruit workers from the existing pool of about two million illegal foreign workers in the country who did not come under official statistics of foreign labour.
News source: NST Online
Small- and medium-sized estate operators in Malaysia are urging the government to withdraw its freeze on the recruitment of foreign workers, in order to allow the plantation industry to operate at an efficient level.
“The freeze creates further scarcity of workers, thus negating the ability of the industry to operate at an efficient and competitive level.
“This is further compounded by the fact that local Malaysians are reluctant to work at these same jobs now undertaken by foreign workers,” it added.
MEOA’s appeal follows that of the Malaysian Palm Oil Association, which had on Monday urged the government to lift the freeze on the recruitment of foreign workers. The government had decided to suspend the recruitment of all foreign workers to Malaysia since February as it assesses gaps in the labour force.
MEOA noted that oil palm produce are perishable and thus, a lack of workers to harvest the crop would mean an unrecoverable loss of income.
“(This is on top of the fact that) the plantation had already incurred huge upfront costs in planting, applying fertilisers and other field upkeep to maximise the production of the palms,” it said.
“In addition to the above biological related losses, increases in cost of production is already squeezing into the margins of any potential derived profits.
“This include the increase in the costs of fertilisers and other inputs essential to the running of the industry by 28-30 % due to foreign exchange fluctuations in which many planters have already committed, the windfall profit levy in Peninsular Malaysia and the anticipated further increase in minimum wages soon,” it added.
Planters’ margin are further affected by the low production attributed to the multiple lagged effect arisen from the El Nino phenomenon.
While it recognises and acknowledges the industry’s heavy reliance on foreign workers, MEOA proposes that the industry and the government work together to draw up a long-term sustainable plan to solve this problem.
“In the meantime, MEOA appeals to the government to repeal its decision to freeze recruitment of foreign workers,” it said.
News source: theedgemarkets.com
业者贴告示盼顾客耐心等候。
宁请本地人供伙食
由于市面上也有许多临时工作，如流动酒家承接宴会时需要临时员工，或是倒酒工作，薪水比日常工作的员工高，惟工作时间长，流动性非常高。因此，许多妇女组都宁愿选择多花时间跑几家，也不愿意只驻守在一家。
聘请外劳对家庭式作业的商贩而言，不仅申请手续面对繁文缛节，同时开销大。因此，贩商宁愿多花心思在聘请本地员工，也不愿意请外劳。
对于本地员工，除了基本的薪金之外，雇主也会为员工提供伙食等。
贴告示吁顾客耐心等
在新巴力新村，同样面对员工短缺，以猪肉粉闻名的亚龙茶室，东主陈金龙在面对缺乏人手的情况下，只能张贴相关告示。
他说，最缺的就是收或洗碗碟工人，甚至是泡茶或是端茶水的员工。
“没办法，现在只有靠自己。”
他表示，现在老板不好当，加上饮食业的前后准备工作时间常，加上员工薪水不高，许多时候都无人问津这门“苦工”了。
由于缺人手，有时不得已让顾客久等，没有办法之下，只能贴上“人手不足，请耐心等候”的告示，希望顾客体谅。
赞友族员工任劳任怨
劳勿永乐茶餐室东主蔡太太表示，员工不易请，但对于本身拥有两名资深的员工，感到满意。
其中一名是工作7年的印裔妇女士达，虽然是友族，但是任劳任怨，也不计较工作。
蔡太太说，只要同理心对待，员工也会有所回报。
“她也少要求假期，但我们休假，她也休假。当年，印裔的大节日如大宝森节或是屠妖节，即让她休息。”
新闻来源: 南洋网
ISMAIL: The RM1,000 minimum wage will apply to all foreign workers in Malaysia as well.
He said the minimum wage review was made once every two years to ensure employee productivity and competitiveness remains at the optimum level.
“The government will review once every two years. This is in line with the National Wages Act and take into account various aspects including cost of living, productivity level and such. The next review will be in 2018,” he told the Dewan Rakyat today.
Ismail was responding to a question by Su Keong Siong (DAP-Ipoh Timur) who wanted to know the latest update on the country’s minimum wage status.
Meanwhile, Ismail also informed that the minimum wage in Sabah and Sarawak was at RM920.
Since 2014, a total of 692 employers have been prosecuted after 81,200 checks were conducted, he added.
News Source: Astro Awani
副首相兼內政部长拿督斯里阿末扎希于今年2月19日宣佈马来西亚冻结引进各国外劳，直到政府满意所有工业领域对外劳的需求为止，上述政策宣佈后，即引发不少下游工业业者投诉面对人手短缺问题。
五六百名来自柔州麻、峇等地及甲州的傢具及花卉种植业者，齐聚柔叻巴西工业区展开拉布条请愿活动，要求政府开放让业者引进外劳。
柔叻巴西工业区现有约150间工厂，其中以家具厂佔多数，包括3家掛牌公司。今早的大规模拉布条请愿活动，从今早10时陆续迎来各路厂商，警方也派出了交警及政治部警员到场维持秩序，並要求活动参与者在半小时內结束有关活动。
参与上述请愿活动的代表在短短数十分钟的活动中，合力高举了以华、巫、英文书写的诉求內容的布条，向政府反映业者急需外劳的心声，並要求政府重新检討引进外劳的政策。
据当地一间家具公司Idea Style Furniture有限公司的负责人杜祥元指出，过去一年多来，该工厂的劳工已从200多人锐减至40多人，这导致公司根本不够劳工来进行生產工作。
他说，基于有关流失的劳工空缺迟迟无法获得填补，送到公司面前的许多订单都不敢去接，以致有关订单就这样悄悄地溜到外国去了。
「在劳力严缺的情况下，我们的生產部几乎面临停產的窘境；我在此呼吁政府能儘速开放让外劳来填补上述空缺。」
与此同时，Smooth Star Furniture有限公司的负责人张振华（52岁）则说，该工厂现有整百名员工，目前仍缺乏大约30%的劳力，这无疑影响了该公司所能接受的订单数量。
来自吧口7英哩半工业区的万能木业有限公司负责人徐文聪（53岁）说，最初在该区共开设了4间家具厂，但短短3年內，其中有2间厂就因为面对人力不足问题而关门大吉。
他表示，自他设厂以来，一直都面对著劳工缺乏的问题；如果现今新劳工迟迟不来，他深恐现有的2间工厂也许將会面临倒闭的厄运。
隨著上述两场拉布条和平请愿活动先后顺利展开，柔佛州傢具同业联合会（JFA）將联合马来西亚傢具总会（MFC）、麻坡傢具同业商会（MFA）及峇株巴辖傢具同业工会（BPFA），將于明日在麻坡傢具同业商会会所举办另一场诉求行动，要求政府重新开放外劳政策。
业者表示，他们只能透过行动表达立场，直到政府愿意正视他们的问题。
马六甲台商公会会长吴志坚（39岁）说，他在麻坡吧口7英哩半开设家具厂已有8年的时间，过去两三年来，就面对了劳工短缺的问题，员工人数从百多名减少至如今的40多人。
他坦言，过去是基于本地的劳工薪资便宜及原材料充足而来麻坡设厂，但如今却因劳工短缺而面对新订单在眼前却无法出货的困境；因此，他呼吁大马政府能继续开放引进外劳，以解燃眉之急。
English: Furniture Industry Hit By Malaysia Foreign Worker Freeze
新闻来源: 东方网
Picture source: Oriental Daily
Commenting on the message, “Stop recruitment of foreign workers = end of the industry”, on the banner unfurled by about 300 furniture makers and workers in Bakri, Muar, over the weekend to protest the government’s freeze on the hiring of foreign workers, Chua said such an end result was only natural.
Speaking to the daily on Sunday, Chua said the foreign worker recruitment freeze had dealt a heavy blow to the foreign labour-intensive industry.
The hardest-hit states are Johor, Selangor and Penang which together produce 95% of the total furniture the country exports, he said, adding that the biggest markets for Malaysian furniture are the US, Japan, China, Australia, the UK, India and United Arab Emirates.
“Last year, Malaysia’s furniture export hit RM9 billion, which was 14.1% more than the 2014 figure.
“If not for the freeze on recruitment of foreign workers, we were looking at breaching the RM10 billion mark this year. But with a shortage of labour we are facing, the export is expected to shrink greatly.
“As such, the council is appealing to both the prime minister and deputy prime minister to look into our predicament seriously,” he said.
The government should not only lift the freeze, but also allow furniture makers to hire Bangladeshi workers as they are known to be more hardworking and are willing to work longer term than their peers from Nepal and Cambodia, said Chua.
News Source: The Sun Daily
家具厂代表郭伟杰反映，巴口区目前有逾100间家具厂，面对外劳短缺问题。近半年来，就有14间家具厂因外劳短缺而倒闭，一间台湾家具厂也因为外劳不足的问题而撤资。
「家具业者面对平均每个月有数百名外劳准证到期回国，业者在申请新的外劳填补空缺时，却不获批准，造成工厂劳工短缺问题。」
他透露，目前巴口区的家具业估计需要1万名外劳来填补，业者如今面对外劳回国却没有新外劳填补，本地人又不愿从事有关工作，无形中影响厂內生產运作，业者有订单都不敢接。
逾300名来自巴口的家具厂及花卉种植场代表，周五在巴口工业区举起布条，呼吁政府开 放外劳申请，解决劳工短缺问题。
冀聆听业者心声
他也反映，政府所推行的6P外劳漂白计划，对业者毫无帮助，反而加剧外劳逃跑问题。他促请政府聆听业者的心声，开放让业者申请孟加拉外劳，避免更多业者面对倒闭危机。
台湾家具厂昇豪工业有限公司代表吕冠贤指出，该公司在巴口工业区营业已16年，厂內原本有100名外劳，但目前只剩下50至60名。
他表示，外劳大量减少，该厂几乎面对机器比员工还多的现象，就算有订单都不敢接，如果政府再不开放外劳申请，该公司会考虑撤资。
除了家具业者面对外劳短缺的困境，柔佛州花卉种植协会主席郑志雄也反映，花卉业者如果不符合条件，就无法申请到外劳，但是符合条件的业者却面对政府不开放外劳申请问题。
「花卉业者多数为了沟通上的方便，选择聘请印尼外劳，可是政府却不开放花卉业者申请外劳，加上外劳人头税上涨，对业者而言，感到非常吃力。」
他希望，政府能正视业者所面对的问题，避免因外劳短缺问题，使这个行业的发展受到影响。
English: Furniture Industry Hit By Malaysia Foreign Worker Freeze
新闻来源: 东方网
