There have been labor export activities of Vietnam to Malaysia since 2002. In 2003, the governments from Vietnam and Malaysia signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on labor cooperation. As such, Vietnam sent over 220,000 workers to Malaysia, reducing rate of unemployment in Vietnam and poverty of rural, remote labor.
Still, recent years have witnessed a considerable decrease in Vietnamese labor export to Malaysia. That is because there emerge new labor markets with satisfactory benefit packages to Vietnamese employees. Also, Malaysia has not offered attractive wage and benefits as before. Another reason is that there has been some limitation to international labor management in this country, which induces employment related problems.
In response, Vietnam and Malaysia reached a MOU on labor and employment on 8th August 2015. This MOU would facilitate Vietnamese employment in Malaysia. It includes 13 articles that specify cooperation procedure and principles, labor contract, manpower recruitment conditions, period of employment, parties’ responsibilities, labor dispute resolution, etc.
This MOU will facilitate labor export activities from Vietnam to Malaysia.
The important adjustment in the MOU is 3 appendices. Specifically,
Appendix A: Sample of Labor Contract between Employer and Employee.
Appendix B: Regulations on responsibilities of employers, intermediary companies in Malaysia, employees and job placement agencies in Vietnam.
Appendix C: Terms of Reference for the Joint Task Force on behalf of two Governments to monitor the implementation of this MOU
Specially, the labor contract sample specifies that Vietnamese employees are entitled to keep their own passport and personal papers. This will facilitate legal protection of Vietnamese labor’s rights and benefits in Malaysia.