Slavery and forced labour

• Main Authors: Ali Mohamed, Ashgar Ali, Hui, Tan Yeak, Ahmad, Muhamad Hassan
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: LexisNexis Malaysia Sdn Bhd 2022
• Subjects: K1701 Labor Law; K3165 Constitutional Law
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/103965/2/103965_Slavery%20and%20Forced%20Labour.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/103965/; https://store.lexisnexis.com.my/products/constitutional-law-in-malaysia-skuSKUMYCONSTILAWMY#:~:text=It%20covers%20topics%20such%20as,and%20emergency%20powers%2C%20constitutional%20interpretation

Workers expect treatment with respect and the workplace environment must be decent. All forms of workplace abuses and exploitation of workers are prohibited both by the national and international instruments. Withholding of wages without a valid basis, non-payment of wages on time, long working hours without overtime payment, failure to provide adequate rest days, public holidays or annual leave, poor and hazardous working conditions, verbal or physical abuse, child labour, and human trafficking are some examples of workplace abuses. In fact, the minimum basic labour standards were initiated by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) for the member states to follow. In Malaysia, the prohibition of workplace exploitation, victimisation, abuses and unfair labour practices are addressed in several of her labour status. Despite the above, in certain sectors workers are still subjected to physical, verbal or psychological abuses with little or no consideration for their well-being. Worst still some are even faced slave like treatment. This includes the none payment of wages or low monthly wages, arbitrary dismissal for exerting the statutory rights, subjecting worker to mental distress and depression by using intemperate or abusive language, including putting an employee in cold storage and making his life difficult, among others. Hence, this chapter discusses slavery and force labour which sometime heard in the workplace with reference to the Federal Constitution, Article 6. Before looking at Article 6 of the Constitution it is worthwhile to note that labour is not and should not be treated as a commodity, i.e., workers are not a disposable commodity that can be tossed aside and replaced with ease. In fact, the capitalist perceived labour as a commodity or Article of commerce which can be bought and sold. Their formulation of labour as a commodity is based on the profit-orientated system and hence, labour is treated as part of the profit-making scheme. Labour is looked as an economic value and as such, possess the right to hire and fire the commodity (employee) as and when they please, a system seen to operate in the United States ‘at-will employment’ or the common law ‘hire and fire’. Further, the common law laisses faire or freedom of contract doctrine is closely linked to a free enterprise capitalism system, where the employer normally seeks to maximise the product derived from his labour power and minimise the cost of hire, thus, leading to exploitation of workers. Hence, on 10 May 1944 the International Labour Organization’s General Conference in its twenty-sixth session meeting in Philadelphia had prohibited the notion that workers as a commodity. Instead, the Conference affirmed that ‘all human beings, irrespective of race, creed or sex, have the right to pursue both their material well-being and their spiritual development in conditions of freedom and dignity, of economic security and equal opportunity’. It therefore prohibits employers from treating the workers as an expendable chattel or an object without any feelings and emotions.