Dear Bro/Sisters, Warm greetings from the Secretary General Office,

In assuming my role as the Secretary-General of the TUC, your support and cooperation is very important for me to successfully perform my tasks in serving your union, the workers of the country and the TUC.

Workers today are affected by many factors, an ever-increasing cost of living and a drop in living wage. Trade unionism continues to be challenged by efforts to break unions by some irresponsible parties. The laws are not sufficient to protect unions – both the members and Leaders. Social security and social justice seems a faraway ideal. The system we live in needs much improvement. We cannot resolve the problems of workers based on the solutions we have today or those that have been adopted in the past. We need a new approach, a new way of thinking, and the political will to change in the best interest of all.

There is so much to be done and the time to do it is now. We need to focus on:

1. Organising capabilities; we must reach out to more workers, set an aggressive target to unionise a bigger percentage of the workforce for we need strength in numbers. We also need to strengthen the TUC divisions, to reach out to every nook and cranny of the country to better serve everyone.

2. Developing education and research; students/workers need to understand how the system in our country works. They need to see the benefits of collectivity action through unionisation in order to be better prepared for the world of work. We will also be able to present our arguments backed by better data, facts and insights.

3. Constructive dialogues and criticisms, even within the Malaysian TUC and society. We need to work harder, push boundaries to improve things – only then will we see the benefit of a vibrant Labour Center.

I believe each and every one of us at the TUC have genuine intentions to create a progressive Labour movement and the responsibility lies with us to take as many different approaches needed to achieve it. We must cooperate and work hard together to see the fruits of our work.

I am hopeful that the workers in Malaysia and the world over would attain social and economic justice moving forward with the year, 2017. Let us make 2017 a year to remember for workers.

Seasonal Greetings and Happy New Year.

J SOLOMON
SECRETARY GENERAL