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21 September 2008

PENANG: A Migrant Case-Handling Workshop was organised by the Penang Office for Human Development (POHD), with the collaboration of JUMP (Jaringan Utara Migrasi dan Pelarian).

Held at Catholic Diocesan Centre, 21 participants from various churches, NGOs and interested individuals who work with migrants attended.

Joachim Xavier, the organizing chairperson and the POHD officer in charge of Diocesan Migrant Ministry, kicked off the workshop by giving a brief background of JUMP. He explained why the workshop was necessary and timely. He said that to effectively help a migrant worker who is in trouble, some para-legal knowledge is required. Participants must also know the role of the various government departments and how to work with them.

The first speaker was George Aeria, an HR Management Consultant, who talked about the Employment Act 1955 and some of its more important features. Basic information like the objectives, definitions and scope of coverage of the Act were explored, before he moved on to the Rights of the Foreign Workers as provided by the law. It was interesting to note that the Employment Act 1955 provides migrant workers (other than Domestic Workers) the same type of protection as local workers. Though the Employment Act may sound like a dry topic, George, with his dynamic humorous style, captivated the participants with his presentation.

One of the topics that attracted the most interest and responses was on unpaid wages and working hours.  Using a simplified chart, George shared in detail how to calculate wages due to migrant workers for normal days work, overtime work, rest day work and public holiday work.

The next speaker was Eric Cheah, a lawyer, who volunteered his service working for Vietnamese migrant workers. He talked about the “Prohibitions and Obligations of the Immigration Act 1959”. He provided information on the Work Permit, Levy, Special Passes, Overstaying, Harbouring, Repatriation, Possession of passports by Employers or Agents. He pointed out that the Immigration Act 1959 prohibits a worker from continuing his stay in the country after termination even if he has a pending court hearing. Sometimes workers are given a 'Special Pass' (by the Immigration Department) allowing them to stay for 1 month but they are charged RM100.00 per month for the document and it is limited to only 3 months. A case can take anything from 3 months to several years to be settled and workers are not allowed to work during this time. This creates an unbearable situation for migrant workers who eventually just give up and go home empty handed.

The third speaker, Joachim Xavier, then talked about how to handle complaints from migrant workers. “What do you do when you receive a complaint from a migrant worker?” he asked. “The first thing you will do is of course to interview the worker. Then you vet the complaints and determine what the issues are.”

Then, he said, one must try to negotiate with the disputing party (i.e. employer). When negotiations fail, then refer the complaints to the various authorities like the Labour Department, the Police, the Immigration Department.

He stressed that it is important to record everything. He took pains to explain in detail the procedures in the various government departments eg. Jabatan Tenaga Kerja. He also handed out a file which contained various sample documents which are normally used while handling a case. He stressed that one does not have to be a lawyer to do para-legal work. Nevertheless, it's not meant for the faint-hearted as well. Handling cases would most certainly put volunteers in touch with unreasonable employers, scheming agents and corrupt government officials. One has to learn how to think on the feet and manage the various obstacles creatively.

The participants received a lot of useful informative documents as a guide for them in migrant case handling. Hopefully, this training would help to increase the number of people who are able to handle migrant cases. POHD has offered this training programme to any parish in the Diocese which wants to learn how to handle migrant cases.

— By Lucia Lai

Joachim Xavier (left) presenting a token of appreciation to George Aeria

Last changed: Oct 31 2008 at 9:23 AM