IndustriALL files ILO complaint against Malaysia over systemic union busting

The complaint, submitted on 10 March 2026 together with five Malaysian affiliate unions, accuses the government of failing to ensure adequate protection against employer interference in workers’ right to organize and bargain collectively in direct violation of ILO Convention No. 98, which Malaysia has ratified.

A systemic pattern of violations

The 12 cases involve Flextronics Technology (Penang), Molex (Malaysia), Renesas Semiconductor KL, Texas Instrument Malaysia, XSD International Paper, General Aluminium Works, Hicom Automotive Manufacturers, Valeo Malaysia, Boeing Composites Malaysia, Nexperia Malaysia, Lumileds Malaysia and Wiwynn Technology Service Malaysia.

Across these cases, workers and unions faced a strikingly consistent set of tactics designed to undermine their freedom of association:

Employers threatened workers with loss of bonuses, salary increments and benefits if they voted for a union. Workers were warned of factory closures and mass layoffs if unions were established. Migrant workers, among the most vulnerable, were specifically targeted with threats of deportation and non-renewal of work permits. Company buses were deliberately delayed on voting days. Polling stations were made physically inaccessible. Workers were blocked from checking their names on voter lists. Union activists were dismissed, suspended and subjected to disciplinary proceedings following successful ballot results.

In some cases, companies weaponized the judicial system, filing challenge after challenge before the High Court, Court of Appeal and Federal Court, to delay recognition processes by years and in one case more than a decade.

Workers fought back and won but justice remained elusive

Despite relentless interference, workers in several companies demonstrated extraordinary resolve. At Nexperia, workers voted for their union with 95.92 per cent support. At Boeing Composites Malaysia, 85.2 per cent of eligible workers voted in favour of NUTEAIW. At Lumileds, the union won with nearly 70 per cent support despite management threatening migrant workers with deportation, denying bathroom breaks to union supporters and falsely accusing union leaders of personal misconduct.

Yet winning the ballot was rarely the end of the struggle. At Lumileds, a worksite committee member who spoke out against post-ballot intimidation was dismissed and forced to sleep in his car after being evicted from company accommodation. Migrant workers were deported.  

At XSD International Paper, 20 union activists were dismissed weeks after the union won recognition with 63.71 per cent of the vote, only reinstated months later after a protest at the Malaysian parliament.

At Renesas Semiconductor, despite courts ruling multiple times in the union’s favour and confirming the company had engaged in union busting, no one has been prosecuted or penalized under the law six years after a formal complaint was lodged.

Authorities failed to act

The complaint documents a consistent failure by Malaysian authorities to take effective action. Complaints lodged with the Industrial Relations Department went unanswered or resulted in no concrete measures. Investigations were launched but never concluded with dissuasive penalties. Authorities relied on conciliation rather than enforcement. In the Flextronics case, an urgent complaint was lodged with Industrial Relations Department officers on-site during the ballot and nothing was done.

The ILO’s own committee of experts (CEACR), in its 2024 observations, had already flagged Malaysia’s ineffective remedies, lengthy procedures and insufficiently dissuasive sanctions in anti-union discrimination cases, expressing regret that the government had failed to provide requested information and had made no changes to the relevant provision of the Industrial Relations Act that blocks workers from accessing courts directly.

IndustriALL demands

IndustriALL and its affiliates are calling on the ILO CFA to recommend that the Malaysian government take urgent measures, including:

Ensuring that secret ballot and recognition procedures are conducted free from employer interference, with active monitoring and immediate intervention by the authorities. 

Guaranteeing prompt, impartial investigations into anti-union discrimination with clear timelines and reasoned outcomes. Imposing effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions including meaningful application of Section 59 of the Industrial Relations Act. Providing rapid remedies for affected workers, including reinstatement and compensation. Taking specific measures to protect migrant workers, who face unique and heightened vulnerability to coercion. Preventing excessive judicial delays from becoming a tool to deny collective bargaining rights.

IndustriALL general secretary, Atle Høie, said:

“The cases in this complaint are not isolated incidents they are evidence of a structural failure to protect workers’ fundamental rights in Malaysia. Workers are winning ballots with overwhelming majorities and still being dismissed, intimidated and denied the right to bargain. The Malaysian government must act and the ILO must hold it to account.”

The complaint was filed jointly with the Electronics Industry Employees’ Union Northern, Southern and Western Regions (EIEUNR, EIEUSR and EIEUWR), the Paper and Paper Products Manufacturing Employees Union (PPPMEU) and the National Union of Transport Equipment & Allied Industries Workers (NUTEAIW) unions together representing tens of thousands of workers across peninsular Malaysia.

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