Conditions Placed Upon Large Corporations Employers will be overburdened by hiring new foreign workers, and this will not address the general labour shortage that industries are experiencing.
The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) supports the Government's announcement that gives employers a window to hire new foreign workers from the source country to fill open positions, but we find the conditions attached to this relaxation to be extremely onerous and would place a heavy financial burden on employers at a time when the industry is experiencing a business recovery. Additionally, permitting only major corporations—but not SMEs—to hire new employees would not help alleviate the general labour shortage facing the rest of the population because larger corporations depend on SME firms in their supply chains to maintain their operations. As a result, the industry's labour deficit is not solely dependent on the scale of the organisations.
With that said, the sector is vehemently opposed to the requirement placed on large firms planning to hire new foreign workers that they pay for the repatriation of five illegal migrants who are already housed in immigration depot for each and every new employee they want to hire. The business community feels that they shouldn't be forced to pay for the expulsion of foreign nationals who entered the country illegally and are considered to be "illegal foreign workers" (PATI). Employers should not be responsible for paying for these workers' repatriation because they are not authorised to be there and are already contributing to a bank guarantee that ranges from RM250 to RM1500 per worker, obviously it depends on the national identity of the foreign worker. This bank guarantee is intended to cover the expense of restitution should the worker run away. It will be extremely detrimental to the sectors that are already battling with numerous other cost hurdles as well as labour strikes in their business process of recovery to impose extra constraints on businesses during the current difficult business conditions throughout the Covid-19 pandemic process of recovery.
Currently, hiring a new migrant worker is likewise highly expensive. Due to the additional requirements that must be satisfied in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, including the need for additional medical examinations, screening tests, and a required quarantine time, the cost of hiring a new foreign employee would have increased. Employers must also cover additional fees related to hiring a foreign worker, such as mobilisation costs in the country of origin and any additional costs brought on by the source countries' policy of no cost to workers. The overall cost of hiring a new foreign employee can easily exceed RM11,000 per employee. As a result, implementing this additional requirement would make it hard for businesses to fund the entire cost while also dealing with current labour shortage problems.
While the sector supports the government's decision to permit hiring from the pool of undocumented employees now clogging up the immigration depot, it is critical that this be handled carefully because there are drawbacks to enabling such an immigration process. Due to the inadequate worker tracking mechanism, there would continue to be a propensity for these labor to flee once they were made legal. It might also encourage illegal job-hopping among those who are employed legally. Regarding this, it is suggested that the Government permit the legalisation as well as re-employment of these workers without imposing any additional costs on the employer other than the cost of a work permit, passport, and visa, and permit businesses to filtration system and monitor the workers before making a decision. In this situation, the business would incur very little expense even if the employee left immediately following the legalisation procedure. Then, with the cooperation of their respective embassies, such employees should be placed on a blacklist and deported.
In order to address the present labour shortages experienced by particular businesses in order to support their operations and the broader economic recovery, the FMM urges the government to assess this new situation and consult with the appropriate stakeholders.