News
Malaysia trade unions gain collective bargaining and wage negotiation skills
Training builds capacity of trade union members in a number of key industrial sectors on fundamental principles and rights at work.
26 June 2024
KUALA LUMPUR (ILO News) – Trade union representatives in Malaysia have strengthened their skills to carry out collective bargaining and wage negotiations following a two-day workshop organised by the International Labour Organization.
Held in Kuala Lumpur from 6 to 7 June 2024 the training was attended by 39 representatives of trade unions in Malaysia, covering sectors such as manufacturing, electronics, construction, plantations, and the maritime industries.
Speaking at the event, Natsu Nogami, Technical Advisor for ILO’s Labour Law and Industrial Reforms Project (LLIR) said, “ILO’s Governing Body emphasizes collective bargaining as an enabling right and an integral component of the call for a renewed social contract”.
She further added that within the overall framework of the Decent Work Country Programme for Malaysia (2021-2025) the ILO Joint Project Office in Malaysia had designed a workshop series to advance an integrated approach to fundamental principles and rights at work through enhancing the capacity of workers organisations in the country.
Over the two-day workshop, the participants engaged in discussion and group work on various elements relating to collective bargaining and wage negotiations. They also looked at the challenges unions face in organising workers and negotiating for wages, preparing a charter of demands, and the links between forced labour, child labour, and labour migration with collective bargaining.
The training was the first in a series on the Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work organised by the ILO Joint Project Office in Malaysia with the support of ILO’s Industrial Relations and Labour Law Reform (LLIR) Project, Migrant Workers’ Empowerment and Advocacy (MWEA) Project, Global Accelerator Lab on Intensifying Actions Against Forced Labour and Child Labour (GALAB) and the Advancing FPRW on Forced Labour and Child Labour in Malaysia (FPRW) initiative.
The second workshop which will focus on forced labour and child labour will be held in October 2024.