Team Based Incentive Rewards : It's Not All Roses
9
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1
Introduction
To date, a number of studies have been conducted on foreign workers issues and they have covered diversified aspects of it in various ways. Although an issues in the past, it has remained contemporary. Accordingly there are some studies which focused more specifically on the issue. In this chapter, it shall review some of the important studies to provide a very brief idea about the issue of foreign workers in construction industry.
2.2
Why Foreign Labour in Construction Industry
In the earlier days, most construction workers in the country were locals who were recruited through the “apprenticeship” system (Wong, 2003). In this system, a foreman, usually skilled, will recruit workers within his community, as the need arises. He is responsible to train the workers, including arranging the worksite, material and sequence. These workers were usually paid daily, through the foreman who gets paid for the piecemeal work done or makes fee over each worker under him.
10 In the seventies and early eighties, nearly 70 percent of the foreign workers were concentrated in the construction sector because the country was experiencing a construction boom (Ghosh, 1998). During this construction boom, there was a great influx of foreign workers, predominantly from Indonesia and later, workers from Myanmar, Bangladesh and Thailand. Most of these workers came in either illegally or overstayed their visit pass. Azian (2004) also stated that our local workmen are no longer able to sustain the demand and needs of the industry. The industry in order to maintain the rapid expansion has to opt for foreign worker.
According to another source, the Malaysian construction industry has relied on foreign work force since early 1980s (Ahmad, 1996). Foreign labour started with the plantation sector. Owner argued that they no longer could find local workers willing to work in their estates because of the better salaries and
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1
Introduction
To date, a number of studies have been conducted on foreign workers issues and they have covered diversified aspects of it in various ways. Although an issues in the past, it has remained contemporary. Accordingly there are some studies which focused more specifically on the issue. In this chapter, it shall review some of the important studies to provide a very brief idea about the issue of foreign workers in construction industry.
2.2
Why Foreign Labour in Construction Industry
In the earlier days, most construction workers in the country were locals who were recruited through the “apprenticeship” system (Wong, 2003). In this system, a foreman, usually skilled, will recruit workers within his community, as the need arises. He is responsible to train the workers, including arranging the worksite, material and sequence. These workers were usually paid daily, through the foreman who gets paid for the piecemeal work done or makes fee over each worker under him.
10 In the seventies and early eighties, nearly 70 percent of the foreign workers were concentrated in the construction sector because the country was experiencing a construction boom (Ghosh, 1998). During this construction boom, there was a great influx of foreign workers, predominantly from Indonesia and later, workers from Myanmar, Bangladesh and Thailand. Most of these workers came in either illegally or overstayed their visit pass. Azian (2004) also stated that our local workmen are no longer able to sustain the demand and needs of the industry. The industry in order to maintain the rapid expansion has to opt for foreign worker.
According to another source, the Malaysian construction industry has relied on foreign work force since early 1980s (Ahmad, 1996). Foreign labour started with the plantation sector. Owner argued that they no longer could find local workers willing to work in their estates because of the better salaries and