The Timber Employees Union of Peninsula Malaysia (TEUPM) in Ekowood, one of Malaysia’s biggest hardwood flooring companies, continued to organise workers throughout 2020 despite long-standing attempts by the management to undermine it.
The union said that management has undermined union elections on two separate occasions. TEUPM said that since 2016, it has made several attempts to be voluntarily recognised by Ekowood, which holds ISO, FSC and PEFC chain of custody certificates. The union said that with the certificates, the company has committed to observe local Malaysian law and respect workers’ rights to representation. However, management has hindered the conduct of union elections.
On 4 September 2019, a secret ballot union election was organised by the Industrial Relations Department and agreed by both parties. However, management invited workers, many of whom are migrant workers, to a team-building outing on the same day. Another union election was set on 8 October. Management reportedly escalated its anti-union efforts with the discovery of an audio recording, allegedly from a workers’ meeting organised by management, wherein a manager is identified as threatening workers who would vote in favour of the union with income and housing denial, and even deportation.
TEUPM reported this to the Industrial Relations Department, leading to the BWI Asia-Pacific office in Kuala Lumpur contacting the Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC). As a result, the MTCC sent a letter to the certificate holder on 3 October 2019 warning of the possibility of serious infringement of its standard requirements if Ekowood continues interfering with workers’ rights.
To this date, Ekowood has taken no steps to finally recognise the union and continues to harass and threaten workers and their representatives.
