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JUSTICE FOR HICOM 5

On 6/2/2025 - The National Union of Transport Equipment and Allied Industry Workers (NUTEAIW) delivered a memorandum demanding justice for five union leaders unfairly dismissed by HICOM Automotive to the Malaysian Employees' Provident Fund (EPF).

NUTEAIW general secretary Gopal Kishnam Nadesan said EPF holds 7.7 per cent of the DRB-HICOM shares amounting to RM 40 million, which is the second biggest shareholders of DRM-HICOM, the parent company of HICOM Automotive.

"All five union leaders were EPF members, EPF's workers' well-being policy also promises it will uphold workers' freedom of association and collective bargaining rights, therefore EPF must walk the talk by pressuring HICOM to reinstate the 5 union leaders, failing to do so EPF must withdraw investment from DRB-HICOM."

HICOM Automotive dismissed the five union leaders in 2016 after they participated in a union briefing on the collective bargaining deadlock. The briefing was held after their working hours and outside the company premise https://shorturl.at/BBSEw

IndustriALL filed a complaint on behalf of NUTEAIW at International Labour Organization Committee on Freedom of Association. In June 2022, the committee concluded that the dismissal is incompatible with freedom of association, and the action is not justifiable as the peaceful assembly did not obstruct the access to the company premise.