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The convention against violence and harassment in the working world overwhelmingly adopted at the 108th Session of International Labour Conference in Geneva Switzerland. It was unfortunate that Malaysia had to abstain due to reasons that do not represent the universal conscience on the subject of harassment and violence especially in regard to those who are vulnerable.
The argument that there is no universal definition of what constitutes harassment is flawed because if one looks at it from the prism of respect for human dignity, one may derive a universal understanding of what is harassment at the workplace. Respect for human dignity here is not about supporting a particular group’s lifestyle; it is about creating working conditions that are dignified and which would help the nation achieve human capital development and productivity.
After some soul searching, the Malaysian Trades Union Congress has come out in support of the convention. It is an opportune time for the Government MEF and the unions to come up with a universal understanding of what constitutes harassment and violence at the work place in linewith ILO convention. The law to eliminate all forms of harassment and violence should be incorporated in the Employment Act.
According to Article 1 of the ILO convention, violence and harassment in the workplace refers to a range of unacceptable behaviour and practices, or threats thereof, whether a single occurrence or repeated, that aim at, result in or are likely to result in physical, psychological, sexual or economic harm, and include violence and harassment based on gender.
Currently there are no laws against harassment and violence at the workplace except when the harassment is sexual in nature. In 2012, the Barisan Nasional government amended the Employment Act 1955 to include provisions dealing with sexual harassment. While such a law is crucial, it has narrowed the meaning of harassment as understood from a woman’s perspective while ignoring the broader dimension of harassment that affects man and women due to uneven power structures at work place and contextual aspect of harassment especially in the informal sectors of the economy such casual employment.
The ILO convention covers workers and other persons, including employees as defined by national law and practice, as well as persons working irrespective of their contractual status, persons in training, including interns and apprentices, workers whose employment has been terminated, volunteers, jobseekers and job applicants, in all sectors, both in the formal and informal economy, and whether in urban or rural areas.
As a human resources practitioner and social activist I have came across cases where foreign workers were intimidated or manhandled in places like barber shops where workers from India are recruited. I have also been told that a well-known company in Ipoh tried to force a depressed woman to resign by transferring her to work in a store that was hot and sweltering because it did not have an air conditioner.
In the hotel industry I have seen senior chefs verbally abuse the interns to the point the interns have to seek to complete their internship elsewhere. Employers, especially those in the small-medium size industry seems to take harassment of this nature lightly as there are no laws to check abuse that are non-sexual in nature.
Therefore it is time the government creates a new chapter in the Employment Act on eliminating harassment and violence at work, which would help the most vulnerable workers such as interns, foreign workers and those who stand up for what is right, and would compel employers to set clear policies against these offences. – July 13, 2019.
*Ronald Benjamin is secretary at Association for Community and Dialogue.
* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight.
https://www.themalaysianinsight.com/s/167926
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