Railwaymen’s Union of Malaya (RUM) former president Abdul Razak Md Hassan believes that it is only a matter of time before members of the union who participated in a picket last May are sacked.

He claimed that the Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) is booting out the workers one by one. Abdul Razak himself was sacked on Aug 29.

The latest incident witnessed three KTMB workers given marching orders without notice. The three are Muhammad Faizal Shahibul Kiraya, Zahit Zakaria and Mohamad Yusuf Mohamed Rashid.

"They will get rid of the workers one by one until all 110 workers are out," Abdul Razak (left in photo) told Malaysiakini today.

He explained that the workers were those who were identified by the KTMB management as having participated in the May 9 picket.

Razak was referring to the picket held to pressure KTMB president Elias Kadir to. About 700 RUM members had participated in the protest.

He said the management decided to do that as it believes that they had broken the law by their action.

However, citing Section 4 (Act 177) of the Industrial Relations Act 1967, Abdul Razak said the company had no power to obstruct union activities.

He, nonetheless, stressed that the union members will not appeal to get their jobs back.

“We are not in the wrong,” said Abdul Razak who is also mulling taking legal action against the company for  “wrongful dismissal”.

‘Never before railwaymen sacked for picketing’