CHAPTER 17 – Industrial Relations and The Industrial Relations Act 1967
CHAPTER 17
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AND THE INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT 1967
I. Choose the response that best completes each statement. Circle your response.
1. The Industrial Relations Act is aimed at safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of:
a. employers and employees and their trade unions
b. employers and their employees
c. employers’ unions and employees
d. employees and their trade unions
e. employers, employees and the government
2. The Industrial Relations Act provides protection in the event of wrongful dismissal for
employees:
a. earning less than RM1,500 per month
b. earning less than RM2,000 per month
c. earning less than RM2,500 per month
d. earning less than RM5,000 per month
e. irrespective of the amount of wages earned
3. Employers are prohibited the following EXCEPT:
a. restrain the right of a person to join a trade union
b. refuse to employ any person on the grounds that he is a member of a trade union
c. discriminate against any person because he is a member of a trade union
d. dismiss a workman by reason that he participates in the formation of a trade union
e. require a person who is promoted to the managerial category to cease his membership in a
trade union of workmen
4. The following are management prerogatives that cannot be included in a trade union’s
proposals for a collective agreement EXCEPT:
a. the promotion of any workman
b. the transfer of a workman
c. the salary scale of workmen
d. the dismissal of a workman
e. the assignment or allocation of duties to a workman
5. If an employee who is a trade union officer applies for leave to carry out his union duties
the employer must:
a. grant him leave with pay
b. grant him leave without pay unless his union duties are on matters concerning the
employer
c. grant him leave only if there are no important work duties to be performed
d. punish him for taking too much leave
e. grant him leave only if his union duties are on matters concerning the employer
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CHAPTER 17 – Industrial Relations and The Industrial Relations Act 1967
6. The following categories of employees are not allowed to join a trade union of workmen
EXCEPT:
a. managerial capacity
b. executive capacity
c. clerical capacity
d. confidential capacity
e. security capacity
7. The process of settling a trade dispute through the Director General of Industrial Relations
who may take such steps as may be necessary for promoting a settlement is referred to as:
a. arbitration
b. conciliation
c. lockout
d. negotiation
e. agreement
8. The process of settling a trade dispute in the Industrial Court is referred to as:
a. arbitration
b. conciliation
c. lockout
d. negotiation
e. agreement
9. The cessation of work by a body of workmen or a concerted withdrawal of labour by a
group of workmen is called a:
a. strike
b. picket
c. go-slow
d. work-to-rule
e. lockout
10. A demonstration by employees near the place of work as a result of a trade dispute is
called a:
a. strike
b. picket
c. go-slow
d. work-to-rule
e. lockout
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CHAPTER 17 – Industrial Relations and The Industrial Relations Act 1967
II. Answer T for true and F for false
11. The Industrial Relations Act is aimed at safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of
employers and employees and their trade unions.
12. The Industrial Relations Act provides protection for non-unionised employees in the event
of wrongful dismissal.
13. A trade union of employers is prohibited from supporting any workers’ union by financial
or other means with the object of placing such union under its control.
14. An employer may impose a condition to restrain the right of an employee to join a trade
union, so long as the employee agrees to it.
15. It is the right of an employer to refuse to employ any person because he is an officer of a
trade union.
16. It is legal for an employer to induce a person to refrain from becoming a member of a
trade union by offering to confer an advantage.
17. It is an offence for an employer to dismiss a workman by reason of his undertaking lawful
union activities.
18. A trade union of workmen is not allowed to persuade a workman to join a trade union at
the employer’s place of business during working hours, except with the consent of the
employer.
19. An employer has a right to require a person who has been promoted to a managerial
position to cease to be a member of a trade union catering for workmen.
20. The transfer of a workman within the organisation is a management prerogative provided
that such transfer does not entail a change to the detriment of the workman.
21. An employer is legally obliged to grant an application for leave from a workman who is
an officer of a trade union who intends to carry out his union duties.
22. Since security guards are non-executives, they are allowed to be members of a trade union
of workmen.
23. Where a trade dispute exists and direct negotiations between the parties reach a deadlock,
the next step is conciliation.
24. At the conciliation stage, an employer may represent himself or be represented by an
advocate or adviser.
25. At the conciliation stage, the Director General of Industrial Relations is not empowered
with any legal force and the parties are not legally bound to abide by his decisions.
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CHAPTER 17 – Industrial Relations and The Industrial Relations Act 1967
26. In arbitration, decisions of the Industrial Court are binding on both parties.
27. The retrospective date of an award by the Industrial Court for a collective agreement may
not be earlier than six months from the date on which the dispute was referred to the
Court.
28. In the Industrial Court, in the event that backwages are to be given to a workman who was
wrongfully dismissed, such backwages shall not exceed twenty-four months’ from the
date of dismissal.
29. In a case of wrongful dismissal, the Industrial Court may award relief based on loss of
future earnings.
30. A lawful strike can only be carried out by a registered trade union, and in furtherance of a
trade dispute.
31. Picketing is lawful if it is a result of a trade dispute and is undertaken at or near the place
where the workman works.
32. A go-slow is actually an illegal strike.
33. A work to rule is an illegal strike.
34. A lockout is the opposite of a strike and is the employer’s weapon of forcing the workmen
to accept his terms of employment.
35. Once an award has been made by the Industrial Court, it operates as a bar to any further
action in the ordinary courts.
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