JOHOR BARU: Furniture manufacturers and traders in Johor are appealing to the government to legalise their staff dormitories that are currently built on land marked for agriculture.
They also want the government to provide more land near industrial areas for the setting up of such facilities, which are mandated by law.
Muar Furniture Association chairman Steve Ong (pic) said under the Employees’ Minimum Standards of Housing, Accommodations and Amenities Act 1990 (Act 446), employers were required to provide conducive living space for their workers.
This meant that workers could no longer stay on the business premises like they used to and proper housing offsite had to be provided by employers, said Ong, adding that the dormitories had to be built on industrial land.
Act 446, which came into force in September 2020, is aimed at ensuring that employers provide minimum standards in relation to employees’ housing.
“The Muar furniture industry faces a dilemma as there is limited space left on industrial land to build such facilities.
“Due to previous land planning, most of the workers’ quarters were built on agricultural land, which does not comply with Act 446.
“Recently, employers with workers’ accommodation on agricultural land received hefty fines from the authorities as their facilities did not comply with the regulations,” he said in an interview.
Employers, said Ong, were in a conundrum as they had been trying to meet the requirements but about 90% of the industry, which included small and medium enterprises, were struggling to do so.
“We hope the government can legalise workers’ dormitories that are currently built on agricultural land as well as allow more agricultural land to be used for this purpose.
“This will in turn allow employers to work towards reorganising their staff accommodations to comply with Act 446.
“At the same time, we hope that the government can also build legal employee dormitories near industrial areas to meet the strong demand from Muar furniture manufacturers,” he added.
About 70% of Malaysia’s furniture is produced in Johor with the activities focused in Muar.
