BSMH5033 INDUSTRIAL RELATION

A212 (JAN SEM) 2021/2022 SESSION

CASE STUDY 1

PREPARED FOR:
DR.SAIFUL AZIZI BIN ISMAIL

PREPARED BY:
PARAMESWARY KERISNASAMY S829109
QUESTION 1
Is trade union registration at XYZ Company legally valid? Justify your answer with sections and Acts
in Malaysia.

Yes the trade union registration is legally valid because Workers in Malaysia have the right to
form and join a trade union in the same trade, business or occupation. Trade union registration
application (Section 10 Trade Union Act 1959) Every application for the registration of a trade union
shall be submitted to DG and shall be signed by at least 7 members of the trade union, any of whom
may be officers thereof [S10(1)]. Based on this case study the employee in the trade union of company
XYZ has registered their trade union with 20 union members. And they registered the trade union legally
and also obtain certification D by the DGTU after 2 weeks of submission. Besides that, the employer
also gives recognition to the trade union forms by the employee.

QUESTION 2
If you are the leader of a trade union, what is the appropriate action to ensure that the employer gives a
fair bonus? Explain your answer.

If I am the leader of the trade union, the first action I will do that arrange a meeting with the
employer, meeting is to make a clear understanding of how the employer evaluate the employee
performance, reason because the bonus is under the employer decision but as an employee they have
rights to get know why their bonus is different with other employees. Second, if there is no proper
performance management I will advise any suggestion to evaluate employees fairly. But in case the
employer already has the performance management tools, I will ask the employer whether they have
informed the employee on the performance management tools used to evaluate the employee skills. if
not they should inform the employee and give them training on the performance management tools.

QUESTION 3
Based on your knowledge, is it appropriate for an employer to reject a union invitation to hold a
discussion on bonus issues? Justify your answer.

Based on my knowledge the employer can reject the union invitation to hold a discussion on
bonus issues. As a registered trade union, the employer already gave the recognition as well, the
employer should discuss the bonus issue. They can have a meeting to resolve this problem accordingly.
Collective bargaining 13. (1) Where a trade union of workmen has been accorded recognition by an
employer or a trade union of employers— (a) the trade union of workmen may invite the employer or
trade union of employers to commence collective bargaining, or (b) the employer or the trade union of
employers may invite the trade union of workmen to commence collective bargaining.

QUESTION 4
If you are an officer in the Department of Industrial Relations, what is your action after the trade union
referred to the above case? Justify your answer with the appropriate Section and Act in Malaysia.

As an officer in industrial relations firstly I will accept the complaint and I will ask the
employer’s side view. Before that, I will check what are the issue brought by the trade union and if there
any issue which is included 5(2) Subsection (1) shall not be deemed to preclude an employer from—if
the employer, seems the issue about the employer refused to join the meeting with a trade union.
Secondly, I will refer to how the trade union invited the employer for collective bargaining if
the trade union documentation is accurate and we will send the notice to the employer and ask them to
reply to the notice accordingly. As an industrial relations officer I will try to solve this issue with these
two parties, if still the issue is prolonged and I will bring this case to industrial court.