Recognition of the UNION
Apparently, the secret ballot is yet to be conducted. There have been several meetings concerning the list of employees eligible to vote during the secret ballot process.
Background -
18/1/2010 - 1st application for Recognition
17/8/2010 - 2nd application for Recognition (Company claimed non-receipt)
8/10/2010 - 3rd Application for Recognition - inaction on the part of the DGIR for many
months despite repeated demands by the UNION, and finally on 12/8/2011, the UNION
had a picket in front of the Ministry of Human Resources. The DGIR then
informed the UNION that the said relevant documents had been misplaced, and the
blame was put on the Deputy DGIR responsible, who allegedly has since then been
removed from that position. The DGIR
then asked the Union to submit yet
another claim for recognition.
[Now, we take it from the 4th application which was made on 8/9/2011, as earlier application efforts irrelevant]
8/9/2011 - 4th and Current Application for Recognition
RENESAS’s now challenged the validity of
the registration of EIEUWR(the UNION) itself,
and the qualification of the UNION’s General Secretary, one Bruno Gentil
Pereira. When the Minister rejected this objection on 9/4/2012, RENESAS
proceeded to filed a High Court case to challenge the Minister’s decision on
8/5/2012, whereby on 28/6/2012, the High Court dismissed the RENESAS’s application.
After the High Court dismissal, there was NO court order preventing the DGIR in proceeding with the process leading to the secret ballot.
28/6/2012 - High Court dismissed the RENESAS’s application
5/12/2012 - Court of Appeal unanimously dismissed RENESAS's appeal
1/7/2013 - Federal Court dismisses RENESAS's appeal
10 months later, the 'secret ballot' is yet to be conducted. When the employer refuses to accept the Union's claim for recognition, then a secret ballot will be conducted whereby the Union needs to be able to get 50% + 1 of total number of workers entitled to vote - not the total number of workers who actually voted during the 'secret ballot'.This means that if there are 1,000 workers eligible to vote, the Union must get at least 501 workers to come and vote for the Union. Those who do not turn up to vote which may also by reason of the employer's doing would be considered for the Union.
Remember that in the midst of this struggle to get a recognized Union, who would then be able to enter into negotiations with the Employer and come up with a Collective Bargaining Agreement, the leader of the workers in RENESAS who also was/is the President of the Electronic Industry Employees Union Western
Region, Peninsular Malaysia (EIEUWR)/ Kesatuan Sekerja Industri Elektronik
Wilayah Barat Semenjung Malaysia(KSIEWBSM) was terminated on 26/8/2011. Wan Noorulazhar bin Mohd Hanafiah claims that he was wrongfully dismissed, and his next upcoming court date at the Industrial Court is on 12 and 13 February 2014 at the Industrial Court No. 12.
