Malaysia’s National Union of Transport Equipment and Allied Industries Workers (NUTEAIW) filed a complaint in July 2021 with the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Committee on Freedom of Association about anti-union discrimination at HICOM, an assembler for automotive brands Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and Mitsubishi.
Five local NUTEAIW leaders were still out of work five years after HICOM dismissed 32 NUTEAIW members for attending a union briefing after working hours, outside of company premises, in February 2016. The briefing was about a deadlock in the collective bargaining, and the company accused the workers of “tarnishing the image” of the company.
After mediation meetings at the industrial relations department, 27 union members were reinstated. However, the company refused to reinstate the remaining five local union leaders. NUTEAIW exhausted all domestic legal avenues, and all courts failed to uphold the unionists’ right to participate in legitimate union activities – hence the decision to turn to the ILO. As the NUTEAIW general secretary, N. Gopal Kishnam, said: “The government has violated article 1(2)(b) of ILO Convention 98 stating that workers shall enjoy adequate protection against dismissal because of participating in union activities outside working hours.”
The workers won termination compensation in court but failed to gain reinstatement.
HICOM has a notorious record of union-busting in Malaysia. In 2013, HICOM and its sister company Isuzu HICOM dismissed 18 NUTEAIW members for exercising their political rights.
