Saturday, 5 November 2011

3 Heroes of Guppy Union


3 WOMEN UNIONIST GET JUSTICE AFTER 13 YEARS OF WAITING!!! 

4 Nov 2011, Cheras Jaya

Today in history, Barack Obama won the US presidential election in 2008 and Ronald Reagan won on 4 Nov 1980. While those dates have no significant to politics in Malaysia, yet  here in Malaysia 3 brave women unionist who were instrumental to establish the all-women in-house union which resulted in them getting the sack by their company in 1998 decided to celebrate their victory on this date in front of the factory they worked for, Guppy Plastic Industries Sdn Bhd, located at Lot 15-19, Lorong 3A, Kawasan Perusahaan Cheras Jaya,  Jalan  Balakong, 43200 Cheras.

The union which is led by a strong all women team was registered officially on the 27th April 1998. Two months after that, the entire Union Protem committee was suspended. Subsequently, three key office bearers - Koyilvani (chairperson), Roshamiza (Secretary) and Kanniamah (Treasurer) was sacked. This did not deter the young workers from continuing the struggle. The Factory Owners, Guppy Plastic Industries refuse to give recognition to the Union instead continued to harass the union members. The State never protected the workers or their union. In spite of these harsh realities, the workers did not lose their fighting spirit.

A small group of friends and labour activists from JERIT and PSM gathered opposite the said factory at around 11a.m with a banner: ‘Congratulations, 3 Heroes of Guppy Union – The High Court ruled the sacking of the union leaders as unlawful ’.  A press conference was organised, after which the 3 workers gave away sweets to workers from the factory during lunch time. Some workers coming out from the factory whispered ‘the boss is watching’ thus their reluctance to take the sweets. That is the bitter truth about organising unions in Malaysia. There is hardly any protection to workers who form unions.

The following handout prepared by Party Socialist Malaysia (PSM) and endorsed by Marginalised People’s Network (JERIT) was distributed during the victory celebration:


3 HEROES OPEN VICTORY CELEBRATION: ROSHAMIZA, KOYILVANI & KANNIAMAH – FOUNDERS OF GUPPY PLASTIC INDUSTRIES WORKERS UNION

On 14 December 2009, the Kuala Lumpur High Court found that the sacking of 3 Guppy Workers Union’s leadership is unfair, too harsh and wrong! This is a grand victory because these workers faced numerous harassment and threat from their employer, since they established the union in 1998.

The Guppy Plastic Industries Union that was registered on 27 April 1998 is unique because the entire leadership were women. Yet their management feared their strength and capability to the extend of:

·         Sacking the union chairperson, Comrade Koyilvani with 24 hours notice on 18 Jun 1998. The allegation was that she carried out ‘anti-company’ activities!
·         Suspend the deputy chair, Comrade Rahimah twice, on 4 Jun 1998 and 25 Aug 2001
·         Sacking the union secretary with 24 hours notice on 18 Jun 1998, also alleged of anti-company activities
·         Sacking the union treasurer, Comrade Kanniamah with 24 hours notice on 18 Jun 1998, alleged of anti-company activities
·         Suspend assistant treasurer, Comrade Visaletchumy twice, on 4 Jun 1998 and 25 Aug 2001

The company accused them of weird and awful things like forcing the workers to join union and misusing funds, even police were brought in once to arrest two of the office bearers. The workers lodged more than 20 complaints to the National Industrial Relation Office against the employer who continued to victimise the union members. On the 24 Jun 1998, more than 100 workers signed a petition opposing the sacking of their union leaders.

The support from the union members was so great at the time that it was the sole motivation for the leadership to pursue their struggle even while they were loosing their job. They had several victories to be proud of, among others:

(i) 2 of the office bearers who were suspended won their case at the Industrial Court on 5 Jan 2006. They were compensated but were forbid from announcing the amount to the public!

(ii) The Union filed a case against their management for union busting activities. On the 4 Dec 2001, the Industrial Court president, Dato Umi Kalthum bin Abdul Majid said  Whether you like it or not Mr. Goh (the management), trade unions are here to stay, and you have to accept the existence of the Kesatuan Pekerja pekerja Guppy Plastic Industries (Guppy Plastic Industries Workers Union)”.
(iii) A campaign was launched by the union against new employment rules and regulations introduced by their employer, in year 2000. Many of the company rules were against the 1955 Employment Act as well as the Federal Constitution. Among the violations are related to right to union activities, work hours, termination notice, retirement age discrimination between men and women workers. The matter was brought to the attention of Industrial Relation Office, Labour Department and the Human Resource Ministry.
(iv) On 6th. May 2008, the Industrial Court ordered the Guppy management to give more space for the union to operate and was asked to remove the anti-union clause from the company’s employment rules. The migrant workers are allowed to be union members. The management agreed to improve it’s relationship with the NEW Union Committee.
(v) In Jun 2001, about 30 women workers were sacked within 24 hours for reason they have reached ‘retirement age’, 50 when in fact at the time, most of them were above 50 and number of them were even hired when they were 50! Only 9 women filed a case at the Industrial Relations office for the unlawful sacking and they won the case [No. 26 (14)/4-244/05, Award No. 1147]. On 18/4/2008, the Industrial Court president, Rajandran Nayagan said “The Industrial Court will show the way and make a ruling which will be useful to society “Do you know how a civilized society is gauged?  It is gauged by how it treats women in society.”
Unfortunately, the case was lost in the High Court and it’s pending at the Appeals Court for more than 1.5 years for a trial date!
Chronological Event of the Case won by the 3 Union Leaders

  • ·     On 27 April 1998, 7 brave women started a union to defend the rights of the workers at the factory that were facing many challenges, among others low wages.
  • ·         On 4 Jun 1998, all 7 women were suspended on allegation they are going against the company when it was so obvious that they were suspended for initiating the union!
  • ·     On 18 Jun 1998, 3 main office bearers in the union, Koyilvani (was working in Guppy since 4/7/1989), Roshamiza (since 12/4/1993) and Kanniamah (since 16/7/1991) were terminated immediately without any domestic inquiry.
  •         On 30/9/1998, the case was referred to the Industrial Court.
  •       Due to some reason, the case was delayed and the second trial only started since 26 July 2004. The Industrial Court Chairperson was Madam Soo Ai Lin.  The unionist lost the case on 31 Mei 2006
  • ·         Case was appealed at the High Court on 19 July 2006 and their lawyer was Edward Saw Keat Leong.
  • ·         Trial at the High Court proceeded and the unionists won the case on 14 Dec 2009. The judge, Mohamad Ariff bin Md. Yusuf referred the case back to the Industrial Court to work out the compensation.
  • ·         Even though they won but the management threatened them to accept a lower percentage of the total compensation and not to say a word about this victory to the public, failing which  saying the company would appeal the case and the case would drag on much longer.
  • ·         On 30 Oct 2011, the 3 unionist strongly felt that their termination was unlawful and since the High Court decision favoured them, the right thing to do is to announce the victory.

This case is very significant:

1.         Because to say that a worker terminated from his/her job could only get justice after 13 years and even that is not confirmed when in fact the worker can only get maximum 2 years retrenchment benefit.
2.         Victimisation of union leaders is so common and transparent, yet the issue is not given fair attention.
3.         These 3 ‘ordinary’ women has demonstrated to their company which bullies and threatens them that they cannot be lured with money alone. They too have their dignity and pride. Money is not everything and today they have come forward without fear to give a clear message that the workers must be brave to expose their Employer who spent thousands and thousands of Ringgit because he does not want a union in his factory.
4.         The current laws does not protect Unionist.


Reported by
Letchimi