Workers of a transport consortium in Johor were awakened to the reality that the presence of an in-house union, even one affiliated to the Malaysian Trades Union Congress, could not help solve their problems.

Li Kau, a ticket conductor, who challenged the management to settle the workers' Employees Provident Fund problems, was dismissed in April after being alleged of tarnishing the company's image.

The 54-year-old claimed his employer Transit Link has not contributed to the EPF for three years since 1999. And when he approached the company's union leader, his case was dismissed as insignificant.

"Despite having to pay RM7 per month for union fees, the union has done little to help workers," lamented Li.

"The union leaders took no notice nor action. Instead, I was scolded for making rash allegations and not following proper procedures," Li told malaysiakini recently.

The father of four made several attempts to speak to the management but did not get any satisfactory response.

Exasperated, he then approached the Labour office. However, the officer there did not file his case but told him to go back to the management instead.

When the management discovered that Li had visited the labour office, they told him to resign but he refused.

"I did not do anything wrong. I merely spoke up for my rights, why should I resign?" he asked.

Li then approached Suaram, a local human rights organisation, and told them of his plight and a co-ordinator there helped him draft a letter to the management.

Nothing happened for several months but Li was transferred from one station to another.

He was sent off on irregular schedules and had to spend some nights at bus stations outside his hometown of Johor Baru. "Sometimes I felt like a beggar," he said.

"I was victimised. They could not get me to resign, so they made life difficult for me."

After several months, Li's patience snapped and he held a press conference to highlight his woes.

This irked his bosses and one of them threatened Li, comparing his actions to those who incited racial clashes in Petaling Jaya, Selangor in March.

Li was told that he had tarnished the company's image by holding a press conference. He was also accused of provoking other employees.

"Since the company doesn't like you anymore, you must resign," Li was told. He was then suspended pending an inquiry.

His colleagues started a campaign asking the management to reinstate him. They also handed a memorandum bearing some 100 signatures to the management.

Later, Li and his colleagues went to the local EPF office to check if the management had contributed to their fund. Some 100 employees then staged a picket outside the office.

The management held a domestic inquiry and suspended eight workers who were said to have organised the picket while 30 others received show-cause letters.

Yellow unions

According to Johor Suaram co-ordinator Eugene Tan, the present unions in bus companies are 'yellow unions' - an agent of the management.

"It is not that they are not effective but they are under the management's control. They work closely with the company instead of the workers," he told malaysiakini when met at his office in Skudai, Johor.

Tan said he has been following the workers' issue closely and found that non-contribution to the EPF was not the only problem.

According to Tan, the management also deducted the workers' salaries.

"When the workers approached the management and the labour office about the deductions, they were told instead that they were being paid higher than what they should be getting," he told malaysiakini.

"That is why they (workers) came to Suaram. They want the management to take the matter seriously," he added.

The MTUC would be able to help the workers if they had really wanted to as the matter was a clear-cut issue related to EPF, salary and dividends.

MTUC president Zainal Rampak when contacted today said he had met the workers and assured them that the matter would be resolved.

Zainal, who also heads the Transport Workers Union and is a senator, said EPF has filed a case against the company as the management was unable to fulfill its obligation to contribute to the fund.

He said the problem arose due to bad management and the inability of transport companies to maintain their competitive edge.

"They are losing passengers. Also, spare parts have become costly and coupled with bad management, the company is surely headed for problems," said Zainal.

Financial problems

Meanwhile, a senior manager with Transit Link confirmed that although the company has settled the workers' 1999 EPF contribution, it still owes them about RM400,000 since April 2000 due to financial problems it was mired in since the regional economic crisis in 1997.

However, the manager who declined to be named said the company will be paying the workers in six instalments.

Concerning Li, the manager said the company was only following procedures to safeguard its reputation.

"We did not judge him but no one can tolerate an employee who has held three press conferences and organised a demonstration against the company.

"This is a serious misconduct. We held a domestic inquiry and found him guilty," said the manager.

According to the manager, Li was offered compensation when asked to resign but he refused saying he wanted to continue working for the company.