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Free Malaysia Today
5 days ago
- Business
- Free Malaysia Today
Labour dept to probe company linked to bus strike
About 100 cross-border bus drivers went on strike yesterday, leaving thousands of Malaysian workers stranded on the Causeway. (Bernama pic) KUALA LUMPUR : Human resources minister Steven Sim said the labour department will investigate the bus company linked to a strike yesterday which left thousands of Malaysian workers stranded at the Johor-Singapore border. He also said the alleged salary deductions of the bus drivers which triggered the strike were unacceptable. 'If these allegations are true, then it is tantamount to illegal deductions of their salaries,' he told reporters after launching the World Bank's report on inclusive employment practices here. Sim said the government had already stipulated the rate of statutory deductions, and that employers would have to consult employees if they intended to deduct more than the set rate. About 100 cross-border bus drivers went on strike at 5am yesterday, leaving thousands of Malaysian workers stranded on the Causeway. A driver claimed that a new salary scheme, introduced two months ago, had reduced the income of drivers to below RM2,000 a month. He also alleged that the drivers were now required to make five trips each day instead of four. This followed a report by Harian Metro late last month, quoting some express and tour bus drivers as claiming that they received a basic salary of RM700. Others claimed they were not paid a basic salary at all. The minimum wage in Malaysia is currently RM1,700 a month. Sim said this was not the first time that complaints had been lodged against the bus company in question. He said the company violated the Employment Act two weeks ago, but did not elaborate on the matter. 'I'm warning this company, do not disregard the Employment Act. We will not compromise,' he said. 32 other bus firms also under probe In a statement later, the labour department said two investigation papers have been opened into the company involved, while 32 other firms are also being investigated. It said this followed an operation at Bangunan Sultan Iskandar today, where checks were conducted on the companies. The department said its probe papers have been opened under the Employment Act and the Employees' Minimum Standards of Housing, Accommodations and Amenities Act 1990. 'If convicted of making illegitimate pay cuts, employers can face a fine of up to RM50,000 for each offence,' it warned.
RNZ News
17-07-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Pay talk protection: National backs Labour's transparency bill
Labour MP Camilla Belich. Photo: ©VNP / Phil Smith Members' bills from opposition MPs are more often than not doomed to fail, but there have been exceptions to the rule this term. Tracey McLellan's Evidence (Giving Evidence of Family Violence) Amendment Bill received unanimous support at its second reading, with all six parties in Parliament voting in favour. Deborah Russell's Companies (Address Information) Amendment Bill is being supported by National and ACT, but not by New Zealand First. Others, like Camilla Belich's Crimes (Theft by Employer) Amendment Bill , have passed thanks to the support of one of the smaller coalition parties (in this case, New Zealand First). But only one opposition bill has had the support of National, and only National this term, and it is another from Belich. On Wednesday night, her Employment Relations (Employee Remuneration Disclosure) Amendment Bill passed its second reading , thanks to National voting alongside the three opposition parties. The bill would ensure that pay secrecy clauses , which prevent employees from discussing their salaries with colleagues, would no longer be enforceable, meaning employers could not take legal action if an employee talked about pay. There will be cases where pay differences were justifiable (such as different skill sets or qualifications), but the bill's intention is to shed light on situations where they were unjustifiable. Australia, the UK, the EU, and some US states have either banned pay secrecy clauses or made them unenforceable. Belich said people already talk about their pay with colleagues, but stopping businesses from taking action against them for it would keep New Zealand up with the times. "It takes away the right for them to take action and discipline their employees when they talk about their pay. We know this happens already at the moment. So there's definitely a common sense, pragmatic element to this bill," she told RNZ. "It's making sure that usual human behaviour and workplace discussions are not something that people are disciplined for." Six National MPs took calls on the bill at its second reading. Every one of them referenced the gender pay gap and were hopeful the bill would be a mechanism to reduce it. Banks Peninsula MP Vanessa Weenink, who gave National's first contribution to the bill, told RNZ the party supported the bill because it had a "proud history" of driving down the gender pay gap. "We know that pay transparency is a key factor for driving down the gender pay gap. International studies have shown that when that legislation has been brought in, that it's measurable in the amount of reduction in the pay gap. So we really want to see that continue to fall down." Belich said it was great to see continued support for the bill. "I was heartened by the comments made in the house, where the National Party members said they would support this right through. I hope that's what they do," she said. "I think given the current context, where we've had significant changes to our pay equity regime, where women have had the ability to take pay equity claims severely curtailed, these types of bills, which make small changes to make a more transparent workforce, are increasingly important." Weenink said the "optics" around pay equity had nothing to do with National's support for the bill, as the party had also supported the bill at its first reading, well before the pay equity changes were announced. "It's just our ongoing commitment to doing what we can to make the workplace fair and improve productivity. How I see it is that if you can see you're being paid less than someone else who's working right beside you, doing the same job, then that's going to massively reduce your motivation, isn't it?" She did not see it as National handing Labour a win, but rather an opportunity to put party politics aside and improve things for New Zealanders. The bill passed its first reading in November. Sometimes, a bill is given cautious support at its first reading, in order to send it to Select Committee to see if the kinks are ironed out. The Education and Workforce Committee received 225 submissions on the bill, the majority in support. Belich said a number of changes were made to the bill through the Select Committee process, including making it clear there would be no requirement to make a disclosure. "It's still something that can be a private matter. It's only if you wish to that you shouldn't be disciplined for the desire to actually discuss that. So that was probably the major change through Select Committee." She said there were some definitional tidy-ups, including making it clear what the definitions of remuneration and detriment were, as well as ensuring the bill would not be retrospective. Some privileged or commercially sensitive information, for example, owner benefits for a business owner who also receives an employee salary, would also be excluded. Despite the changes, ACT and New Zealand First continued to oppose the bill. ACT said it would allow people to breach agreements they had signed up to, for which there should be consequences. "Once you've signed something, you are supposed to oblige to the conditions that you have signed for. If you do not agree to something in the agreement that you have signed, then there is an opportunity for you to go back and renegotiate the terms and conditions that you don't agree to," Parmjeet Parmar told the House. "But you don't just breach the agreement and say that there should be no consequences for that." New Zealand First's Mark Patterson said it "runs smack into the brick wall" of the party's belief in the "sanctity" of contract law. "While this bill doesn't prevent pay secrecy and that's still able to be incorporated within a contract, it does limit an employer's ability to enforce it, and that goes against what a contract should be," he said. Belich said she found the arguments against the bill "interesting," as it was specifically designed so businesses would not need to spend money to change their contracts. "If we'd said you cannot have a pay secrecy clause in your contract, or pay secrecy clauses are now illegal to have even in an employment document, there'd be thousands of employment agreements throughout the country that would need to be changed, that would cost money, that would take legal advice. It would be a burden on business." The bill still needs to go through the Committee of the Whole House stage for any further tidy-ups, and then a third reading, though Weenink did not foresee any major changes. "It took a long time to bash some of these things out, and I think we've got it to a really good place." Acknowledging National is a "broad church" and there had been strong discussions about the bill amongst the caucus, she did not expect any changes to the party's position at the third reading. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Irish Times
14-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
LVMH's Loro Piana placed under court administration over worker exploitation
A Milanese court placed exclusive clothing label Loro Piana under judicial administration for subcontracting production to suppliers that allegedly exploited workers, making the LVMH-owned cashmere brand the latest fashion house to be caught up in a series of investigations into labour rights violations. The court said Loro Piana had handed the production of apparel, including jackets, to Evergreen Fashion Group, which is owned by a Chinese company. 'The production of such apparel had been carried out in a context of labour exploitation,' according to the ruling. Loro Piana has been placed into a one-year court administration to address the shortfalls in its supply chain, the ruling shows. The sanction means a court-appointed administrator will oversee the brand's operations. The brand is not under criminal investigation and the order will be lifted if the company complies with legal requirements before the 12-month deadline given by the court. Loro Piana declined to comment on the ruling. Loro Piano is known for its cashmere jumpers which retail for more than €1,000, as well as jeans selling at close to €700. Loro Piana was bought by LVMH, the world's largest luxury conglomerate, in 2013. Frédéric Arnault, son of LVMH founder Bernard Arnault, was appointed chief executive of the Milan-based fashion house in March. It is the fifth fashion company to have been placed under court administration over labour issues in Italy in the past 18 months, in a scandal that has tarnished the image of the country's luxury industry. Milanese prosecutors have been investigating the industry's supply chain for several years after media investigations uncovered multiple cases of labour malpractice across several companies that have Chinese owners based in Lombardy and Tuscany. Luxury brands subcontracted production to meet heightened demand during the pandemic-era luxury boom. LVMH's Dior, Italy's Armani and Alviero Martini have had the restrictions placed on them lifted before the 12-month deadline. Valentino, part-owned by France's other luxury conglomerate Kering, was also subjected to a similar order in May. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
Globe and Mail
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Globe and Mail
Out of the Cold Shelter Workers Speak Out About Forced Closure by NS Government
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, July 11, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- EVENT BRIEF — On July 8, the NS government terminated 42 union jobs without notice at Out of the Cold (OTC) housing shelter and shut down its operations. Workers and their Union (SEIU Local 2) are calling for an emergency press conference and rally at Province House on July 15 at 11am. WHAT: Press conference & rally to launch the demands of the terminated SEIU OTC workers. WHEN: Tuesday July 15 from 11am to 12:30pm. Press conference will begin at 11am. Rally will begin approximately at 11:30am. WHERE: By the main gates of Province House facing Hollis St. WHO: Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 2 is the certified bargaining agent for all workers at the Out of the Cold shelter that operated in Halifax and Dartmouth. Media Contact:
CBC
26-06-2025
- CBC
Manitoba hotel owners charged with trafficking employees who were underpaid, threatened with deportation: RCMP
A couple who own a hotel in the rural municipality of Portage la Prairie have been charged with human trafficking following a months-long police investigation, where four employees from India reported being underpaid, forced to work 15-hour days and threatened with deportation. Jai Inder Sandhu, 62, and Satbir Sandhu, 48, were charged with trafficking in persons and receiving material benefit from trafficking, Sgt. Cathy Farrell with the Manitoba RCMP human trafficking unit said at a Thursday news conference. Jai Inder Sandhu was also charged with withholding or destroying documents and uttering threats. The investigation began on Feb. 9, when Mounties got a call about a disturbance at the hotel west of Winnipeg, where the four employees lived and worked. Two female employees later came forward to report their situation to police, and another woman and a man were later also identified as victims, according to RCMP. "Our goal from the outset was to help these victims of labour trafficking," Farrell said. "They all came to Canada in good faith believing they were going to work legally and be protected. Instead, they were threatened and forced to work for very little pay." Farrell said all four were promised fair wages, affordable living and legal work in Manitoba through federal labour market impact assessments — documents issued to employers by the federal government that allow them to hire foreign workers if they can't find a Canadian or permanent resident to fill a position. Until recently, those assessments both allowed foreign nationals to work legally in Canada and increased their chances of becoming permanent residents by adding points to their permanent residency applications. In the Portage la Prairie case, while three of the employees eventually got the assessment document, which would have legalized their work, the employer didn't meet the conditions outlined. Another of the employees never got one, RCMP said. The employees reported being paid roughly half of Manitoba's minimum hourly wage, and said they faced threats of deportation and other intimidation tactics. In one instance, one person said their identification documents were withheld from them, Farrell said. The four did "pretty much everything" at the hotel, from working the front counter and the restaurant to doing housekeeping and cleaning duties. One person was recruited through friends of family, while others got involved through word of mouth or advertisements online. All had been working at the hotel for between 10 months and a year, Farrell said. Victims urged to reach out for help Janet Campbell, president and CEO of human trafficking awareness group the Joy Smith Foundation, encouraged people to get in touch with her organization to learn more about the topic and report potential trafficking cases. "We certainly understand that reaching out for help isn't always easy. When somebody has been isolated, threatened, misled, there's a lot of fear and uncertainty that goes along with that, and what will happen to them if they speak up," Campbell said at the news conference. "I think if people understand the issue of forced labour more broadly, the community can be an incredibly powerful tool in the effort to identify these things and speak up." Dianna Bussey, executive director of correctional and justice services at the Salvation Army, said that organization is also involved in helping people exploited by traffickers, adding they've seen an increase in human trafficking cases, with the past year in particular a notable one for labour trafficking cases. The RCMP's Farrell said determining how common similar situations are is difficult, even though trafficking is an issue she described as "often hidden in plain sight." "There's a lot of apprehension … [about] coming forward to the police," she said. "It is one of the most underreported crimes that we have." Migrant workers, newcomers and vulnerable people are considered the most at-risk for labour trafficking, a form of human trafficking that involves recruiting, moving and holding victims to coerce them into working, she said. That coercion often involves force, threats, mental and emotional abuse, and manipulation, said Farrell. Industries where it often happens include construction, agriculture, manufacturing, food processing, trucking and the restaurant business, she said.
