Sarawak State Secretary Aziz Hussein has insisted that the secondment of Forestry Department staff to the newly-created state-owned Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) has followed proper procedure.

However, Sarawak Forest Employees Union chief Abdul Wahab Abdullah countered, saying that the transfer has not followed Public Service Department (PSD) guidelines.

For this reason, union members will continue picketing against SFC until the issue is addressed to their satisfaction, he said.

To date, they have held pickets at two functions attended by Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud and at least another two functions organised by senior managers of SFC.

Abdul Wahab, a forestry officer, also raised the matter at last week's International Labour Organisation conference in Kuala Lumpur.

Clear guidelines

Abdul Wahab indicated that the union will continue to raise the issue until the authorities respond.

"The PSD guidelines are very straight forward and if they (the state authorities) follow these, there is no reason why we should be unhappy," he said.

It now appears that the union's dissatisfaction stems from the offer for secondment only being made on what it described as a "pick-and-choose basis".

Abdul Wahab said the option for secondment to SFC should be open to all department staff.

Aziz Hussein, however, said not everyone will be seconded because the department has not been closed and that it would still have functions to carry out.

About 1,000 personnel were seconded to SFC when it was established recently. They have been given three years to decide whether they will stay in SFC, return to the department or quit.