Vietnamese workers working in Malaysia have the right to keep their passports.

Workers complete exit procedures to work abroad. (Photo: VNA)

According to the latest information from the Department of Overseas Labor Management (Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs), in order to create favorable conditions for Vietnamese workers working in Malaysia, especially in accessing skilled jobs and stable income, on August 8, Vietnam and Malaysia re-signed the Memorandum of Understanding on labor recruitment and employment.

The Memorandum of Understanding is the basis for general cooperation between the two countries on labor and to facilitate the promotion of sending Vietnamese workers to work in Malaysia in the coming time. The Memorandum of Understanding consists of 13 articles, stipulating the methods and principles of cooperation, labor contracts, labor recruitment conditions, labor employment period, responsibilities of the parties, dispute resolution, etc.

The important change is that the memorandum has three appendices attached on the model labor contract, regulations on the responsibilities of the employer, the Malaysian brokerage company, the employee and the Vietnamese enterprise and the appendix stipulates the terms of reference for representatives of the two Governments to monitor the implementation of the memorandum.

In particular, the model contract stipulates that workers have the right to keep their passports and personal documents. These are important bases to better protect the rights and legitimate interests of Vietnamese workers working in Malaysia.

With the signing of this Memorandum of Understanding, Vietnam is allowed to send workers to work in Malaysia and has the right to exchange information on the laws and policies of the two countries related to labor and employment issues. In addition, Vietnam will take all necessary measures to prevent and stop illegal border crossings, human trafficking and illegal recruitment of foreign workers.

Vietnam began sending workers to Malaysia in 2002. In 2003, the Vietnamese Government and the Malaysian Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding on labor cooperation. To date, Vietnam has sent over 220,000 workers to work in this labor market, contributing to reducing the annual pressure on job creation in the country, helping to eliminate hunger and reduce poverty for workers in rural, remote and isolated areas.

However, in recent years, the number of workers going to Malaysia has decreased significantly. The reason is that Vietnam has opened a number of new labor markets, so the attractiveness of wages and incomes of workers in this market is no longer as before, the management and supervision mechanism for foreign workers is still limited, leading to incidents arising related to workers during the implementation of contracts./.

According to Vietnamplus.vn