Court no to union-busting

IN a rare decision in favour of trade unions in Malaysia, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur has held that the decision of the director-general of trade unions (DGTU) and the Attorney-General (AG) that a trade union member will automatically lose his membership the moment he is dismissed by his employer, is not only wrong, but absurd and untenable.

The gist of the Attorney-General’s Cham­bers’ interpretation was that under Section 26(1A) of the Trades Union Act (TUA), an employee who has been dismissed by an employer and whose dismissal has been challenged cannot continue to be a member of the trade union.