KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) is the oldest national centre representing Malaysian workers, and among its roles today is to promote equality, improve workers’ living standards, and create a better and safer working environment for its 500,000 members.
In conjunction with Labour Day yesterday, A. Balasubramaniam, who has served MTUC for 40 years and is now its vice-president, shares his journey in campaigning for various workers’ issues, including the implementation of the minimum wage, the retirement age from 55 to 60 years old, the five-day work week, and the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1994.
According to him, he attended several workshops, seminars, courses and meetings organised by international trade union bodies, including the International Labour Conference (ILO) in Geneva.
“In June 1980, when I was a tally clerk in one of the ancillary companies that operated in the port area, I joined a workers’ union representing tally clerks called the Union of Employees in Port Ancillary Services Suppliers (Unepass), which is an affiliate of MTUC.
“I raised several issues with the union leadership regularly, and seeing this, some of the leaders encouraged me to contest the union election as an office bearer.
“I stood to contest as a member of the Unepass executive committee (exco) in September 1982 and won to become one of the six exco members,” Balasubramaniam, now aged 63, told Bernama.
In view of his young age at the time, he was encouraged to attend the MTUC Youth Committee meeting, where he was identified as a potential candidate to participate actively.
He was an active member of the MTUC Exco Youth Committee from 1982 to 1990 and later became its secretary at the Youth Convention in 1990 before he won the Youth Committee chairman post unopposed in 1992, and by virtue of this, he became one of the MTUC vice-presidents.
He said he also led a delegation of 65 trade union youth leaders to the International Confederation Free Trade Union (ICFTU) Youth Rally held in Seoul in 1994.
The Port Klang-born activist was later elected chairman of the youth committee of the ICFTU and had the privilege of chairing the world meeting.
“A motion was proposed in that meeting to cap the age limit for youth representation either at the age of 35 or 40; the majority voted in favour of 35, and it remains in ICTFU as the age limit to date,” he added.
Later, Balasubramaniam became a General Council member from 1994 to 2004, representing Unepass; MTUC vice-president in 2004, and MTUC deputy secretary-general in 2016, before he was re-elected as vice-president of MTUC in 2022.
Besides MTUC, he also served in the National Wage Consultative Council as a workers’ representative from 2013 to 2020 and was a board member of the Malaysian Productivity Corporation (MPC) for 12 years.
In conjunction with Labour Day, he called on workers to join forces to strengthen trade unions in the country.
