PUTRAJAYA, Nov 25 — A total of 1,058 foreign workers who were abandoned after being promised jobs have been placed with new employers as of Nov 9, the Human Resources Ministry said.
The ministry said in a statement today that the workers, who have been jobless for over three months, were helped in an operation with the cooperation of the Immigration Department and the police after a rescue committee was formed under the Labour Department.
In addition to the job placements under new employers, the ministry has also taken action against the errant employers who abandoned the workers under the Employment Act 1955 and the Workers’ Minimum Standards of Housing and Amenities Act 1990 (Act 446).
The rescue operation was important to ensure the workers would not become victims of human trafficking or forced labour as outlined by the International Labour Organisation, the ministry said.
In a separate development, the ministry also announced that the eighth meeting of the Joint Committee on Foreign Worker Management, together with the Home Ministry had agreed to freeze the intake of foreign workers for the cleanliness and washing subsectors as almost half of the abandoned workers were from those subsectors.
The Human Resources Ministry also said that the quota for foreign worker applications that had been approved in all sectors and subsectors, including the two abovementioned sectors will be reviewed.
The ministry will continue to cooperate with all departments and agencies to intensify operations and enforcement actions in line with its jurisdiction.
Continuous enforcement and an uptick in operations will ensure that the labour industry in the country is free of issues such as abandoned workers and incidents of forced labour, it added.
