The National Union of Plantation Workers (NUPW) is the largest union in

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

and one of the largest in Asia.

History

The union was formed in the

Federation of Malaya The Federation of Malaya ( ms, Persekutuan Tanah Melayu; Jawi script, Jawi: ) was a federation of what previously had been British Malaya comprising eleven states (nine Malay states and two of the British Empire, British Straits Settlements, P ...

in 1954 by an amalgamation of smaller plantation unions. It continues to represent manual laborers and semi-skilled workers in all of Peninsular Malaysia.2
/ref> Ethnically, its membership has historically been of predominantly Indian origin, reflecting the workforce in the industry. An assessment of the NUPW's record as of 1996 concluded that it had made contributions to the welfare of its members, such as subsidising adult education and school education for members' children, and through campaigning against

alcohol abuse Alcohol abuse encompasses a spectrum of unhealthy alcohol drinking behaviors, ranging from binge drinking to alcohol dependence, in extreme cases resulting in health problems for individuals and large scale social problems such as alcohol-relat ...

; and also had some positive impact on pay, albeit largely tied to productivity bonuses. However, it struggled to respond to the restructuring of estates, often used by employers to undermine workers' rights, invested in numerous unsuccessful businesses, and spent an excessive proportion of funds on union employees.

P. P. Narayanan Palayil Pathazhapurayil Narayanan (15 February 1923 – 19 February 1996) was a Malaysian trade unionist. Early childhood and education Narayanan was born on 15 February 1923, in Tholanur, present day Palakkad District, Kerala, India, then ...

was the general secretary of the NUPW from 1954 until 1993. The present executive secretary is A. Navamukundan.3
/ref>

General Secretaries

:1954:

:1992: Datuk G. Sankaran

References

Trade unions in Malaysia Trade unions established in 1954 {{Malaysia-org-stub