Freeze on foreign workers may hit aspiring Malaysia-bound Indian workers

Kuala Lumpur, Dec 16 (ANI): the Malaysian Human Resources Ministry is considering a temporary freeze on the recruitment of foreign workers to assist natives displaced from work.

A move that may hit aspiring Indian workers that constitutes a large percentage of the foreign work force in that country.

Director-General of Labour Ministry Abdul Rahim has said that this step is one of the options being studied to assist Malaysians displaced from work.

As of last month, 28,000 jobless Malaysians had registered with the Labour Department. The department found jobs for 6,000 of them, the NST Online reported.

There are about 2.1 million foreign workers in Malaysia, or about 20 per cent of the total workforce. It was reported recently that 2,000 to 3,000 jobless Malaysians registered with the ministry every month.

The figures are expected to increase in the coming months.

The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC), which represents 550,000 private sector workers, and the Congress of Employees in the Public and Civil Service (Cuepacs), which is an umbrella union for the 1.2 million government sector workers, welcomed the freeze as a "logical move to protect local workers."

MTUC vice-president A. Balasubramaniam said there was a surplus of foreign workers in the country and it was time to reduce them.

He said migrant workers who had completed their contracts should be sent home to make way for Malaysians to take their places. (ANI)