ASEAN ministers to plan employment projects

ASEAN ministers to plan employment projects

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Southeast Asian labor ministers will meet here next week to map out new projects to create more jobs in the region amid the U.S. slowdown, a Malaysian minister said Monday.

But a planned protest by the country's trade union movement on May 12 against alleged misuse of the state retirement fund could mar the event.

Human Resources Minister Fong Chan Onn said he was hopeful of persuading the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) to drop the action. He told a press conference that he had "fruitful" talks earlier Monday separately with representatives from MTUC and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF).

"We are now in the process of intense negotiation and arbitration. I am confident that at the end of the day, we can come out with some deal that will appeal to the MTUC not to picket on May 12," he said.

Fong said some of the MTUC complaints could be resolved immediately. Others were longer-term and "larger issues which need a much longer framework."

Fong will meet again Thursday with the MTUC, which represents some 550,000 workers.

Unions are angry at the EPF's action in allegedly bailing out politically connected companies, and at the six percent dividend paid to 9.7 million contributors last year -- the lowest in 26 years.

Fong said representatives from Japan, South Korea and China would join in the May 10-11 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) ministerial talks.

"They want to know more about our labor conditions and Japan is very interested in having projects on human resource development with ASEAN countries," he said.

China is interested in ASEAN's provision of social security for workers.

Fong said ministers would initiate projects to upgrade skills and create job opportunities.

They would seek ways to cooperate to handle anticipated job losses due to relocation of electronic plants within the region amid the economic downturn, and problems of workers migrating for better jobs elsewhere.

"We anticipated that there will be a lot more Indonesian workers coming into Malaysia and a lot of Malaysian workers going over to Singapore and other countries," he said.

"We will have to adjust ourselves how best we can cope with this kind of migrational problem."