Conflicting statements by top Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) officials over a proposed law for gig workers have once again underscored the ongoing leadership turmoil in the country’s largest labour umbrella body, a union leader says.
National Union of Hotel, Bar and Restaurant Workers, Peninsular Malaysia (NUHBRW) secretary-general Rusli Affandi said it was important for MTUC to present a consistent message on the Gig Workers Bill 2025 in the spirit of solidarity.
“Right now, the government can see that MTUC is divided,” said Rusli.
MTUC president Halim Mansor and secretary-general Kamarul Baharin Mansor delivered differing messages on the bill earlier this week.
Kamarul said on Tuesday the claim that MTUC supported the bill, which seeks to provide recognition and protection for gig workers, was misleading
He said the union’s general council had unanimously decided that the bill should be deferred until the human resources ministry held consultations with the congress.
Kamarul also said that MTUC had written to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and human resources minister Steven Sim, urging them to defer the bill.
Hours later, Halim said the congress backed the proposed legislation, and that this was MTUC’s official stand on the matter as he was the president.
The Dewan Negara passed the bill later on Tuesday after a debate involving 18 senators.
Sim said before the bill was passed by the Dewan Rakyat that it had the backing of unions, including from MTUC and other groups representing gig workers.
The contradictory positions of the MTUC officials came just a month after Halim was re-elected as president at a special congress, ending a six-year leadership crisis which led to legal disputes and intervention by the Registrar of Societies and the Shah Alam High Court.
“I believe MTUC should remain united and speak with one voice. But as usual, there seems to be never-ending conflict in MTUC,” said Rusli, adding that NUHBRW had been disaffiliated from MTUC since 2013.
“Their focus has been on Perkeso and EPF allowances rather than the broader interests of workers,” he said.
Workers’ rights activist Callistus Antony D’Angelus said the human resources ministry seemed to have pushed through the bill in haste.
He said that a “thorough and deliberate” consultation with MTUC was needed to ensure that the bill would serve the interests of gig workers.
D’Angelus, the international labour adviser for Social Protection Contributors’ Advisory Association Malaysia, said it was widely accepted that gig workers were one of the most exploited categories of workers, with precarious employment practices seemingly institutionalised in the gig economy.
“The government, with its emphasis on uplifting the living standards of the poor, must pay attention to how this bill is being pushed through,” he told FMT.
“The government must not take advantage of or further accentuate any differences in MTUC.”
FMT has reached out to Sim for comment.
