On 28 April, a supervisor of Maxter Glove Manufacturing Sdn Bhd at its factory in Selangor, Malaysia, (Maxter) dismissed Thu Maung, a Burmese migrant worker. Thu Maung’s dismissal was in retaliation for filing a complaint over his working conditions with the Labour Department on 23 March. The complaints alleged that Maxter: 1) had wrongfully deducted the fee that employers have to pay when they employ migrant workers from the worker’s wages; 2) had unlawfully deducted the medical check-up fees of RM1000 from the worker’s wages; 3) had wrongfully withheld 2 months wages; 4) had failed to provide migrant workers with accommodation; and 5) had not been giving the workers one rest day per week. According to Thu Maung, about 1 month after he lodged the complaint, Maxter officials started intimidating workers.
The Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC) successfully intervened to assist 26 Burmese migrant workers who were dismissed by Jogoya Restaurant based in Starhill Shopping Centre in Kuala Lumpur on 2 March without reason. With the MTUC’s assistance the workers were able to secure a large back pay settlement and pay for air tickets to return to Burma.