OTHER POWERS OF THE DGTU

• Membership
Under Industrial Relation Act 1967 ( Sec. 5) stated that workers in
Malaysia have the right to form and join trade unions.
• The Act states that :
- no employer can prevent a worker from joining a union by putting a
condition in his contract of emploment.
- no employer shall refuse to employ a worker on the grounds he is
a trade union member or officer.
- no employer shall discreminate against a worker (i.e. in term of
promotion) on the grounds he is a trade union member or officer
- no workers should be threated with dismissal or dismissed if he
proposes to join trade union or if he participates in union activities.
 Classes Of Persons Prohibited
From Joining A Trade Union
• Any non-citizen (excluding a permanent resident) and any person
below the age of 16 years.
• Any student of an educational institution, unless he is also employed
as an employee and is over the age of 18 years
• Any person not engaged or employed in the establishmet or industry
or trade or occupation in respect of which the union is registered
• Any “public officer” ( a person in the permanent or temporary
employment of any government (federal or state) in Malaysia ).
• An employee of a statutory authority can be a member only of a
union
• An employee of a financially autonomous local authority can be a
member only of a union whose membership is confined exclusively
to employees of one or more financially autonomous local
authorities
 OTHER POWERS OF THE DGTU
• Officers Of The Union
• After the rules of he union have been accepted
by the members, officers maybe elected in
accordance with the rules. This must be done
through secrets ballots.
• The rules of the union must ensure that every
member has an equal right and a reasonable
opportunity to record his vote freely, and that the
secrecy of the ballot is properly secured.
*Secret Ballots - A vote in which each person's
choice is secret by the totaled votes are public
• According Section 28 (TUA 1959), the following persons are
disqualified for election to be the executive of the union or
federation of trade unions :
(i) he is not a citizen of the federation.
(ii) he has not been engaged or employed for a period of at least 1
year in any establishment, trade, occupation or industry with
which the trade union or federation is connected.
(iii) a person who has been a member of the executive of any trade
union.
(iv) an officer-bearer or employee of a political party
(v) he has been convicted by any court of law which in the opinion
of the Director General renders him unfit to be an officer of a
trade union
(vi) he is a bankrupt
(vii) his age below 21 years old
 Cases :
• PAHANG SOUTH UNION OMNIBUS CO v MINISTER OF
LABOUR AND MANPOWER [1981] 2 MLJ 199
• NATIONAL UNION OF NEWSPAPER WORKERS V KETUA
PENGARAH KESATUAN SEKERJA [2000] 3 MLJ 689