'Sarawakians have no hope of Score-ing jobs'
Dukau PapauPublished: Jan 29, 2013 4:02 PM | Updated: Jan 29, 2013 9:39 PM
Sarawak PKR warns young Sarawakians not to have much hope in working in industries within the Sarawak Corridor Renewal Energy (Score) areas unless the state government is firm with its policy.
State PKR chief Baru Bian claims locals are being treated worse than foreign workers and says the workers' protest in Bintulu is just the ‘tip of the iceberg’.
Sarawak PKR warns young Sarawakians not to have much hope in working in industries within the Sarawak Corridor Renewal Energy (Score) areas unless the state government is firm with its policy.
“As of now, there is no hope for young Sarawakians to work in Score industries as they are being forced to resign by companies which prefer foreign workers,” said state PKR chief Baru Bian.
Bian was commenting on news reports that several hundred retrenched local workers operating in Samalaju Industrial Park in Bintulu, which is withing the Score area, had staged a peaceful protest on Monday.
Supported by colleagues who are still employed, the protesters claimed that their services were terminated without notice as some of them were not registered with the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and covered by Social Security Organisation (Socso) while other claimed they did not have proper contract for their employment.
The workers were allegedly given two options of either accepting the termination of their services or stay on but with wage deduction.
The companies refused to meet them for a meeting.
Angered by the attitude of the companies, the workers staged the demonstration, which brought about the whole operations and construction works at the site to a standstill for the whole day.
“Thousands of local workers are working there. They are being treated worse than the foreign workers and are being put in difficult working conditions in terms of work places and their remuneration of wages.
“They are kind of forced to resign and I think and I wouldn’t be wrong that what happened in Samalaju Park is only the tip of the iceberg,” Bian alleged.
“We have got this similar problem with Sanmina that came out in November when about 1,000 workers were retrenched.
“I believe this issue is not resolved yet,” he pointed out.
‘What hope for locals?’
Bian (below), who is also Ba’Kelalan assemblyperson, said that he had raised the issue in the state assembly, expressing concern with the state government’s proposed plan of getting 600,000 skilled workers to work in Score by 2030.
“But if the local workers are treated worse than the foreign workers, what hope is there for them to be employed?
“Score is giving them no hope at all,” he said, blaming the government for its failed policy to protect the interests and welfare of the local workers.
He said the government is not firm enough to impose the minimum salary of RM800.
“The government should put their feet down and demand that the companies comply with the minimum wage, good working conditions and make sure they pay the workers EPF and Socso.
“Otherwise what the companies are doing now is illegal,” he said.
He called on the state government to carry out an immediate investigation in order to avoid the recurrence of similar incident in the future.
“As of now, there is no hope for young Sarawakians to work in Score industries as they are being forced to resign by companies which prefer foreign workers,” said state PKR chief Baru Bian.
Bian was commenting on news reports that several hundred retrenched local workers operating in Samalaju Industrial Park in Bintulu, which is withing the Score area, had staged a peaceful protest on Monday.
Supported by colleagues who are still employed, the protesters claimed that their services were terminated without notice as some of them were not registered with the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and covered by Social Security Organisation (Socso) while other claimed they did not have proper contract for their employment.The workers were allegedly given two options of either accepting the termination of their services or stay on but with wage deduction.
The companies refused to meet them for a meeting.
Angered by the attitude of the companies, the workers staged the demonstration, which brought about the whole operations and construction works at the site to a standstill for the whole day.
“Thousands of local workers are working there. They are being treated worse than the foreign workers and are being put in difficult working conditions in terms of work places and their remuneration of wages.
“They are kind of forced to resign and I think and I wouldn’t be wrong that what happened in Samalaju Park is only the tip of the iceberg,” Bian alleged.
“We have got this similar problem with Sanmina that came out in November when about 1,000 workers were retrenched.
“I believe this issue is not resolved yet,” he pointed out.
‘What hope for locals?’
Bian (below), who is also Ba’Kelalan assemblyperson, said that he had raised the issue in the state assembly, expressing concern with the state government’s proposed plan of getting 600,000 skilled workers to work in Score by 2030.
“But if the local workers are treated worse than the foreign workers, what hope is there for them to be employed?“Score is giving them no hope at all,” he said, blaming the government for its failed policy to protect the interests and welfare of the local workers.
He said the government is not firm enough to impose the minimum salary of RM800.
“The government should put their feet down and demand that the companies comply with the minimum wage, good working conditions and make sure they pay the workers EPF and Socso.
“Otherwise what the companies are doing now is illegal,” he said.
He called on the state government to carry out an immediate investigation in order to avoid the recurrence of similar incident in the future.
View Comments0