1 Introduction
Research on contemporary rural labour relations has long been neglected in Western labour sociology.1 Current studies concerned with changing labour relations often focus on the industrial and service sectors2 as well as on the care sector of early-industrialised Western countries.3 Nevertheless, from a global perspective the primary sector is still an important field of employment, especially in the peripheral and semi-peripheral zones of the world.4 With political initiatives such as the Green Economy5 or the Bioeconomy,6 targeted at the substitution of non-renewable, fossil resources with bio-based materials, the primary sector could gain even greater economic importance.7 This could have an immense effect on rural labour relations in countries rich in natural
Often, rural labour is not only characterised by the requirement of vast amounts of low-skilled labour and harsh working conditions, but also by a widespread deployment of migratory labour.9 Whether it is seasonal labourers from Latin America employed in the United States picking lettuce, East-European workers cutting asparagus in Germany, or domestic migration of rural workers in India and Indonesia – rural labour migration can be found all around the globe. Apart from highly centralised and mechanised agricultural production,10 labour relations in the primary sector of semi-/peripheral countries are often characterised by informality, precarity and semi-proletarianisation.11 Thus, low-skilled rural migrant workers often constitute a particularly vulnerable segment within the working class of nation states, considering that they are usually without an advocacy group representing their interests. Typically, destination countries regulate the influx of foreign workers according to the “needs” of their national economy while sending countries encourage the out-migration of surplus labourers. By doing so, governments enable private companies to make use of a mobile labour reserve12 as a seemingly never-ending source of cheap labour – so, too, in Malaysia.
Compared to its local manpower, Malaysia has one of the largest migrant labour forces in the world.13 Many low-skilled migrants seeking work in
This chapter draws a connection between the working conditions of migrant palm oil workers and the problem of their union organisation within Malaysia.17 The empirical findings included in this chapter were conducted during several field stays between 2018 and 2019 in the East-Malaysian state of Sabah as well as one online workshop with international and regional scholars and activists in June 2020. My own conclusions, drawn from participatory observations, qualitative interviews with workers, unionists and labour activists, and group discussions (see table 1), are complemented with findings from other studies concerned with labour migration in the Malaysian palm oil sector.
I will start by sketching Malaysia’s labour migration regime, followed by a brief discussion of the core features and tendencies of the prevailing regime as applied in the country’s palm oil industry. I argue that the state regulation of labour migration forms the precondition for an oppressive exploitation relationship between employer and migrant workers in the palm oil sector. Following Erik O. Wright, I define relationships of oppressive exploitation as relations of mutual dependence, in which one party dominates the other including, for example, measures of discrimination. Here, “the exploiter
2 Mobile, Flexible, Disposable: The Malaysian Labour Migration Regime
Labour migration to Malaysia dates back to colonial times.20 Encouraged by the British Crown, foreign labour became the backbone of Malaysia’s early capitalist development. As local labour was either not available in sparsely populated regions or natives were unwilling to work under the harsh working conditions of colonial capitalism, the British rulers encouraged the recruitment of foreign workers from India, China and Indonesia.21 The mobilisation of labour quickly became an essential factor for colonial Malaysia, as the country wished to develop into an important supplier of resources such as natural rubber, palm oil and cacao for the industrialising countries of the West.22
To understand the current working conditions of migrant workers in the Malaysian palm oil sector and the problem of their organising in the context of the prevailing labour migration regime, five core features of the regime must be determined: (1) it is characterised by the state regulation of migrant labour influx, which became increasingly flexibilised from the 1970s onwards.27 Since then, the state has coordinated the recruitment and expulsion of migrant workers depending on the needs of capital first and foremost. In the past, during economic crises, foreign labour became constrained, oppressing workers’ freedom of movement and their social rights (i.e. in the form of sudden mass deportation). In times of economic growth, however, the state lifted restrictions, in the hope of attracting higher numbers of labour migrants from within the region; (2) the regime is marked by a division of labour between low-skilled foreign workers employed in unfavourable segments of the economy and domestic workers deployed to perform better paid jobs with higher
In 2019, there were approximately 3.5 million documented migrants residing in Malaysia. In addition to this, between 1.46 and 4.6 million undocumented migrant workers are estimated to work illegally in the country.34 Today, foreign workers mostly originate from Indonesia, the Philippines, Nepal, Myanmar, India and Bangladesh.35 They primarily work in the palm oil industry, the construction sector, industrial manufacturing and the service sector (including
The state regulation of labour migration, the accumulation model of the palm oil sector, which relies on disposable cheap labour, and the fact that sending countries encourage out-migration form the preconditions for the oppressive exploitation of highly mobile workers in the palm oil sector, as is demonstrated in the following section.
3 Oppressed and Exploited: Migrant Workers in the Malaysian Palm Oil Industry
In order to take up a job in Malaysia, migrants must apply for a formal work permit, which is valid for three years. The permit can be extended for up to two years. Upon the expiry of the permit, workers must return to their country of origin and reapply for a renewal if they wish to re-enter Malaysia legally.40 As this process can be time-consuming and costly, migrant workers often overstay their legal duration of stay or re-enter Malaysia without the proper documents, whereby they become illegalised.41 The state grants different permits for selected branches of the economy based on the citizenship of workers,
The Malaysian palm oil value chain consists of roughly three different links: oil palm plantations, processing mills and refineries. Since the harvesting, rearing and care of oil palms can only be mechanised to a limited extent, a large part of the plantation work is carried out manually by migrant workers. On plantations there is typically a gendered division of labour.46 While male workers perform physically demanding or operational tasks such as harvesting, transporting the oil palm fruit bunches, and taking care of plantation maintenance, female workers are mostly deployed to collect loose fruit, taking care
In East Malaysia the minimum wage is 800 ringgits (approx. usd 195) and in Peninsular, due to the higher costs of living, 1,000 ringgits (approx. usd 244).48 Migrant palm oil workers’ wages hardly exceed this minimum wage. Migrant households can only achieve higher incomes if they pool wages earned in the palm oil sector with incomes generated through informal activities, such as selling illegally planted fruits at the weekly market (Interview 2). Empirical studies also revealed that the wages of migrant workers in the palm oil sector vary depending on whether workers are paid based on permanent contracts, whether they are day labourers or whether wages are tied to harvest quotas.49 The income and working conditions of migrant palm oil workers thus depend on the type of employer they work for. Larger companies seek to exhaust legal provisions on minimum wages and overtime, constantly urging workers to spend more manpower than their contract provides for or by passing on taxes for working permits onto employees. Migrant workers employed by smaller companies and smallholders are routinely underpaid. In the case of small oil palm estates migrant workers are in part underemployed due to the small size of the crop area, while in harvest peak periods they are easily overworked. Male workers generally benefit from higher wages and more frequently have permanent contracts. At the same time, female workers are usually hired as day labourers, earning much less than male workers.50 On smaller plantations, undocumented family members will often support one formally employed worker without receiving any compensation to reach otherwise unachievable harvest quotas. Irrespective of the type of employers, migrant workers periodically struggle to socio-economically reproduce their labour power and household, due to low wages and unsteady employment relationships.51
3.1 Institutional and Political Barriers for Workers’ Organisation
Malaysia’s constitution formally guarantees all citizens the right to join and build a trade union. However, the government restricts this right in preventing the establishment of general trade unions, blocking the emergence of a comprehensive trade union movement.52 Since their inception, many state-approved unions have maintained a close relationship to the government. Representative positions within unions are mostly filled by high-ranking foremen and managers. The interests of less privileged workers are, therefore, systematically underrepresented. Moreover, not all workers have the same rights. Despite the fact that migrant workers with a valid working permit are formally allowed to join a union, they are prohibited from assuming representative functions; moreover, the interests of undocumented workers cannot be represented formally at all.53 In practice, the Malaysian state has, in the past, repeatedly expelled migrant workers in response to labour unrest.54 Politically, Malaysia’s national trade union umbrella organisation, the Malaysian Trade
The restrictive legal framework within which unions operate in Malaysia limits the ability of migrant workers in the palm oil sector to organise. In East-Malaysia the Sabah Plantation Industry Employees Union (spieu) has been campaigning for the rights of migrant workers in the palm oil sector for a long time. Nevertheless, the unionisation rate of migrant workers has remained at a consistently low level since the legalisation of unions in the 1930s,57 especially in the primary sector.58 In principle, migrant workers employed on oil palm plantations and in mills have a certain production power.59 If they were to stop working for only 24 hours, an entire production cycle would be disrupted, due to the need to process harvested oil palm fruits as quickly as possible, before they go bad.60 However, even if a union manages to organise documented workers, it must ensure that a majority of 50 per cent plus at least one person (the 50+1 principle) of all workers in a company join the union in order to be recognised by the company as a negotiating partner (Expert interview 1). This refers to all production sites of the company. In concrete terms this means that if a plantation company, for instance, operates ten plantations, the 50+1 rule must be met on every single plantation. This principle proves to be an extreme organisational and logistical challenge for unions, as, besides the institutional and political hurdles of union work in the palm oil industry, there are further obstacles preventing migrant workers in the sector from organising.
3.2 Socio-spatial Isolation of Migrant Palm Oil Workers
Palm oil plantations and mills are usually located in remote areas far away from villages and urban areas. Migrant workers are compelled to reside within the plantation or close to the processing side in basic housing provided by their
The topographical conditions of many oil palm plantations further hinder activists trying to organise workers in far-off areas (Expert interview 3). The infrastructural accessibility of oil palm plantations varies greatly. In especially remote locations it can become challenging for workers themselves with basic means of transportation to leave and enter their workplace to meet up with other workers or even go to the weekly market. Roads are not always fully developed which makes them impassable during bad weather conditions. Public transport is rarely available and only runs irregularly. Migrant workers normally only own (if any) one or two motorcycles per household. During heavy rainfall, motorcycles are unsuitable for the plantation terrain as unpaved roads become extremely muddy. In larger companies, workers benefit from facilities such as a health clinic or small shops. As basic services and necessities are close by, many respondents mentioned that they hardly ever leave their workplace. One female worker even revealed that she never left the estate she works on since she was born there (Interview 1). These circumstances bind migrant workers to their immediate surroundings most of the time.
It is common practice among employers to seize the passports of their migrant workforce for alleged “security” or “bureaucratic” reasons. In reality, companies will hold the passports of migrant workers to prevent them from running away because of low wages and bad working conditions. Out of fear of getting arrested when leaving the plantation or mill site without carrying their passport when caught by the police or paramilitary units, migrant workers will mostly stay at their workplace and residence. Therefore, holding the passport of migrant workers gives companies the power to exercise control over the
The socio-spatial features of plantations and mill sites function as tools for plantation and mill owners to control migrant workers, binding them to their workplace and eliminating workers’ capacity for organisation. In practice, it enables employers to discipline workers to keep their labour power disposable and prevents migrant workers from getting in touch with other migrant workers possibly employed on better terms. Thus, sharing information and experiences, both regarding different income and working conditions as well as concerning the enforcement of workers’ rights and unionisation, is of central importance in this respect.
3.3 The Power of Information: Workers’ Rights in the Workplace
The lack of access to information about labour rights and residence regulations expose workers to intensive exploitation and the disregard of rights by employers. When migrant workers were asked whether they had received a formal employment contract at the beginning of their current employment relationship, many workers reacted with uncertainty. Often there was confusion about the exact content of the documents they signed, as exemplified by this statement from a mill worker: “We just have to sign [what the company presents to us, J. P.] …. We don’t read it all because the documents are very thick.” (Interview 5) Trade union representatives described in various formal and informal conversations that the lack of access to information about workers’ rights and their own legal status, illiteracy among workers, as well as the employers’ refusal to cooperate with union representatives and labour activists, represent particular challenges for organising migrant plantation and mill workers (Group discussion 1). As a consequence, the majority of workers are not aware of basic rights, such as the minimum wage, protective clothing or safety training, but also the right to hold their own passport.
There is a lack of official complaint possibilities for migrant workers in case of labour rights abuse. Official bodies such as embassies or the Malaysian ministry of Human Resources usually take no initiative when it comes to supporting migrant workers in enforcing their rights. A representative of an Indonesian Workers’ Union, who supports Indonesian plantation workers in Malaysia, described the following case, which exemplifies the inactivity of state authorities in Malaysia: in the East Malaysian state of Sabah a group of Indonesian migrant workers employed at a larger oil palm plantation company, demanded the payment of outstanding wages. Since their employer had not met wage
Nevertheless, most of the time, unorganised workers – who make up the majority of migrant plantation and mill workers – bridge information deficits and uncertainties about their options for action through their social networks.
3.4 Individual Coping Mechanisms in Dealing with Socio-Economic Precarity
Because of fear of repression by employers or the state as well as a lack of knowledge and experience in dealing with trade unions, migrant workers tend to deal with legal conflicts and work-related problems through social networks.61 These networks have a specific material dimension: not only do they mediate employment relationships and serve as a resource for exchanging information about working conditions under different employers and labour rights, they also undermine the prevailing labour migration regime in the Malaysian palm oil sector to some extent. Accordingly, undocumented migrant workers in particular, whose specific concerns can only be represented by official interest representatives with great difficulty, resort to informal social structures to sort out adequate employment opportunities, which helps them remain undiscovered (Interview 4). Drawing on the work of James C. Scott,62 Oliver Pye describes such practices as a form of “everyday resistance” of migrant workers against exploitative labour conditions and precarious living conditions.63 The term refers to a variety of practices employed by
Most clcs are founded on the initiative of migrant women. Interestingly, some of the founders and teachers are themselves palm oil workers …. [L]ocal teachers have a strong interest in workers’ rights because they themselves have had experiences as plantation workers …. [T]hey have experience in advocating for migrants with the civil authorities. They also have the ability to bond with workers because they have that experience themselves and because they discuss with them to get them to let their children go to school …. These clc teachers can play a crucial role in giving workers a basic education in workers’ rights. To do this, they themselves must first be well trained. Since the clcs are located in the middle of the plantations, teachers have a much better chance of introducing the idea of a common struggle and a union to the workers in the daily confrontations with them.67
Against the backdrop of the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, informal networks and cooperation between Indonesian and Malaysian union representatives have gained even greater importance in dealing with vulnerable migrant workers in situations of severe crisis. Due to the topicality of the crisis at the time of the completion of this chapter, the following excursus can only depict this in a fragmentary way. Nevertheless, it is intended to provide some insight into the changing working and living conditions of migrant workers under the impact of the current global crisis and the crucial role of trade unions in ensuring the survival of migrant workers and their families during this time. The account is based on media reports as well as reports of workers and trade union representatives in the context of an online discussion with various labour and environmental organisations active in Southeast Asia and Germany in which I participated at the end of July 2020.
4
With the outbreak of the pandemic, large parts of the Malaysian economy came to a halt. This resulted in a shutdown of palm oil production and thus a sudden mass release of migrant workers. Over the course of the crisis, many documented workers lost their working permits and, with that, their shelter, leading to their immediate expulsion.68 Undocumented migrants were put into deportation camps to be sent back to their country of origin, without a chance to comply with the necessary hygiene rules to reduce the risk of infection and without medical care.69 Migrant workers were publicly stigmatised both in Malaysia and in their countries of origin, as they were seen as a group with a high risk of infection, due to their anticipated mobility, their lack of access to medical care and their general living conditions on the plantations and mill sites. Many documented migrants who lost their jobs due to the pandemic either refused to return to their country of origin, as they feared not being able to return, or simply could not afford the travel expenses.
Labour and humanitarian activists have reported that many companies stopped paying wages when production was halted. Consequently, affected migrant workers, especially those lacking access to transportation, could no longer adequately supply themselves with food or other essential goods.70 They were completely left to their own devices by both their employers and the Malaysian state. Vulnerable migrant groups such as day labourers, outsourced and undocumented workers, were particularly affected by this. In addition, many workers were cut off from medical care, which was previously provided on the plantation sites. Other reports from workers and trade union activists revealed that some plantation companies only rudimentarily implemented the general rules of hygiene and continued to do “business as usual” during the pandemic. In unionised plantations, however, it was possible to obtain continued payment of wages, ensuring that workers were housed and basic health care could be maintained.
5 Conclusion
The connection between difficulties in reproducing migrant palm oil workers labour power and households and the high proportion of unorganised migrant workers is conditioned by oppressive social, institutional and political mechanisms disciplining Malaysia’s migratory labour reserve. In this chapter it was argued that, through the prevailing labour migration regime, the Malaysian state creates the precondition for oppressive exploitation relationships in the palm oil sector. The segmentation of the labour market, the segregation of migrant workers by citizenship, the discrimination of migrants in terms of union organisation and the flexibilisation of labour migration constantly disciplines and devaluates the labour power of migrant workers, keeping their labour power cheap and disposable.
The working and living conditions of low-skilled migrant workers in the palm oil sector outlined in the context of the labour migration regime indicate that migrant workers in Malaysia not only occupy a deprivileged position on the labour market, which channels them into unfavourable, underpaid segments of the economy; it also demonstrates a certain form of oppression of migrant workers in terms of legal status and the enforcement of basic rights. This raises the question of what possibilities migrant workers have to resist their oppressive exploitation.
In many cases, the organisation of migrant workers in the palm oil sector is hampered by workers’ fear of being deported if they join a union as well as by a lack of experience in dealing with trade unions. Companies are able to make use of production localities to seize control over migrant workers. Whether it is documenting workers’ movements through a guarded gate while, at the same time, preventing labour activists from getting in touch with them, more indirect measures such as installing basic facilities on the production site or seizing worker’s passports, allegedly for their own safety: these practices effectively shield workers from the outside world, making them immobile and hindering their organisation. Furthermore, it was argued that isolated workers
Even though possible entry points for the mobilisation of migrant workers in Malaysia are blocked by companies and the state working in tandem to suppress labour unrest in the palm oil sector, workers are able to organise by establishing informal social networks for coping with immediate difficulties or sharing information. Thus, informal networks may create the preconditions for union work, particularly concerning hard-to-organise migrant workers without previous knowledge or experience working with unions. At the same time, trade unions can learn from informal support networks and thus improve the success of organising. The importance of organising migrant palm oil workers did not only become obvious in the differences in working conditions of unionised versus non-unionised palm oil producers but, especially, during crisis. While the disposability, discrimination and devaluation of migrant workers by the Malaysian state and employers became apparent during the unfolding of the crisis dynamics of the global pandemic, it also revealed the importance of trade union support in ensuring the survival of migrant palm oil workers and their dependants.
Interviewees’ occupation and data and location of interviews
Interview no. |
Occupation/function |
Date and location |
|---|---|---|
Interview 1 |
Plantation workers (female, loose fruit picker) |
8 March 2018 |
Interview 2 |
Plantation worker (male, various tasks) |
9 March 2018, Sandakan |
Interview 3 |
Plantation worker (female, various tasks) |
9 March 2018, Sandakan |
Interview 4 |
Plantation worker (female, maintenance) |
14 March 2018, Tawau |
Interview 5 |
Mill worker (male, press station), mill worker (male, oil station), mill worker (female, clerk) |
15 March 2018, Kunak |
Group discussion |
Participants: Workers, scholars, trade union representatives, a labour activist and environmental activists |
5–7 April 2019, Tawau |
Expert interview 1 |
Trade union representative |
14 March 2018, Tawau |
Expert interview 2 |
Trade union representative |
5 April 2019, Tawau |
Expert interview 3 |
Trade union representative |
10 May 2019, telephone interview |
Expert interview 4 |
Non-governmental organisation representative |
6 May 2017, Kuala Lumpur |
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