By V.P. SUJATA
PUTRAJAYA: The Employment Act and the Workers' Compensation Act will be amended to reduce the dependency on foreign workers.
Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam said the amendments are expected to be tabled in Parliament by December after getting the go-ahead from the Cabinet.
With the amendments, employers would be required to notify the ministry of vacancies and justify the need to employ foreign workers about one month prior to submitting the application for foreign workers, he said.
He added that outsourcing companies have to register with the ministry the exact number of workers that was needed to ensure there was no glut in the country.
There had been cases where outsourcing companies had brought foreigners into the country first without ready jobs and had later placed them with jobs, he said.
"Outsourcing companies will be regulated based on this new system," he told reporters here on Thursday after a meeting with Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar at the Home Ministry to discuss matters pertaining to foreign workers in the country.
Dr Subramaniam added that housemaids who were earlier exempted from insurance coverage would be included to get protection from their employers as part of the planned amendments.
"Maids were earlier given exemption because we thought employers would automatically take care of their welfare but now since it has been found to be otherwise, the exemption clause would be removed," he said.
Dr Subramaniam also said that he was discussing with the Ministry of International Trade and Industry to give his ministry two years notice prior to the setting up of factories to ensure there was a pool of trained locals to fill vacancies.
The ministry, he said, had the database of unemployed and skilled Malaysian workers as well as conducted skills training to meet the local demand and to maximise the availability of local workers.
Syed Hamid said both ministries were working hand-in-hand to reduce the number of foreign workers in the country from the current 2.2 million to 1.8 million by the year 2010 as planned under the midterm review of the Ninth Malaysia Plan.
