Distressed in Malaysia
要約
Date Reported: 2024年3月10日
場所: マレーシア
企業
Beaks - Employer関連
Total individuals affected: 600
移住者・移民労働者: ( 600 - バングラデシュ , 建設 , Men )課題
Contract Substitution , 採用費 , 身分証明書の取り上げ , Restricted mobility , Wage Theft回答
Response sought: Yes, by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
Story containing response: (Find out more)
取られた措置: The workers said Bangladesh high commission officials had visited the hotel where they were staying but had not resolved the issues. Business & Human Rights Resource Centre contacted Beaks to invite them to respond to the allegations raised by the workers; the full response can be read at the hyperlink. Throughout March, migrant workers filed labour complaints with police, alleging labour violations on the part of Beaks and its subsidiary Suria Harmoni; the companies claimed the allegations were untrue. On 27 March, Beaks and Suria Harmoni filed a defamation case against news outlet Malaysiakini, Svaranjani Manickam, and representatives of Parti Sosialis Malaysia (the Malaysian Socialist Party) after PSM filed a police case in connection with the arrest of three migrant workers who had refused to withdraw labour complaints made against Beaks. On the 2 April, the company obtained an ex parte injuction that was then denied by the Shah Alam High Court on 19th April and ordered the company to pay damages. The Resource Centre determined the legal claim bears the hallmarks of a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) and has included the case in our public database. We invited the company to respond to the inclusion of the lawsuit; its response can be read in the linked story. PSM provided a rejoinder to this response in May 2024 which was followed by a third response from Beaks and a second rejoinder from PSM in July 2024.
情報源のタイプ: News outlet
...
Hoping to change the lives of their families for the better, tens of thousands of men borrowed lakhs to fund the migration process. However, a rude awakening awaited the Bangladeshi migrants in Malaysia: there was no work for them.
More than 400,000 Bangladeshis went to Malaysia since the reopening of the labour market, according to the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training. In fact, Malaysia recruited the highest number of workers from Bangladesh -- more than 351,000 workers only in 2023.
Many of them are now jobless, unpaid or underpaid...
The 30-year-old Jahirul got a construction job at Beaks SDN BHD in Kuala Lumpur, where he would be paid the minimum monthly wage of RM 1500 that could double with overtime and other allowances.
"But there was no work and no pay. We are provided food twice a day -- it's just rice and lentils," he told The Daily Star on March 2 over the phone from a Kuala Lumpur hotel where he and some 50 other Bangladeshis are staying.
The company hired about 600 Bangladeshis but they were not provided with any job. For a few weeks, some of them were assigned to work for other companies with lumpsum or no pay.
What is more cold-hearted is that the company is taking away the passports of foreign workers. Upon furnishing Tk 1.7-1.8 lakh, they could have their most precious identification document back.
If anyone leaves the hotel, he is not allowed to return and thus becomes illegal. In other words, the foreign workers are held hostage in the hotel...