Referring to a report on Malaysiakini concerning the picket carried out by the Electronic Industry Employees’ Union Western Region, Peninsular Malaysia (EIEUWR) at Nichicon on Feb 14, we would like to draw attention to the fact that the union has broken an agreement made during a consultation at the Jabatan Perhubungan Perusahaan Malaysia HQ held on Dec 16, 2019, that neither party would make any provocation during the period of referral of industrial disputes involving the Collective Agreement (CA) to Industrial Court.

A total of five negotiations were made by the company with the union on July 23, Aug 28, Sept 17, Sept 26 and Oct 10 last year.

A total of 38 articles were successfully completed while 20 articles failed to be successfully negotiated.

The union have also set the conditions for the company to agree to Article 4 - recognition of the contract date from December 12, 2012, as a condition for further discussions.

There are 20 articles still under discussion but none of them have reached a joint decision. I have referred to the Department of Corporate Relations and consultations on Dec 16, 2019.

During the negotiations, the union insisted on maintaining their proposal without creating a win-win situation in negotiations.

To speed up the process of settlement, a decision was made to refer the matter to the Industrial Court to resolve the 20 articles.

At the same time, the union and the company also agreed not to make any possible provocations affecting good relations and goodwill between the union and goodwill of the company.

On Feb 14 at 9.50 am, I received a notice that the union will organise a picket in front of Nichicon (M) Sdn Bhd company.

I inquired from the Bangi and Kajang police whether there was a permit for the union to organised this gathering and the answer was no.

I'm also asked if holding the assembly without a permit was illegal. The answer given is that it is illegal and can be a threat to public safety and security.

On the advice of the Bangi police station, a report was made on February 15 at 12pm (Friday night) and in the report, the police have made it clear stating:

“For the information of the employer, the police have confirmed that the assembly was held without obtaining a permit and the assembly is an illegal assembly ''

In the picket which was held between 6.20pm and 7.25pm on Feb 14, there were approximately 80 participants were involved, 31 of whom were employees of Nichicon (M) Sdn Bhd.

The union was found to have invited outside workers from other companies to attend the picket.

The unions have shown bad civic consciousness by holding a rally without a police permit and this is hurting the company.

The union has breached the agreement not to make any provocation affecting the goodwill of the company and its 1385 employees.

The company is very sorry about the provocations made by the union and we are studying the legal aspects to take disciplinary action against any employee involved in the assembly that is defaming the company.

The writer is the industrial relations manager for Nichicon (M) Sdn Bhd.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.