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The action, brought by a group of 66 retrenched workers, cited RPGC Bhd, the new owner, for non-compliance with the terms and conditions of the collective agreement signed between the club and the employees’ union in January.
<P>The collective agreement, effective
for the period between Jan 1, 2006, and Dec 31, 2008, was signed between RPGC’s
former management and the Club Employees’ Union Peninsular Malaysia (CEUPM),
of which the RPGC employees’ union is a member.</P><P>The ex-workers claimed
that they were unfairly dismissed by RPGC Bhd, which they alleged had violated
the condition for retrenchment under the collective agreement.</P><P>They want
the Industrial Court to instruct RPGC Bhd to comply with the terms and conditions
of the agreement, signed by RPGC and CEUPM on Jan 30.</P><P>Group spokesman S.
Ghanesen, who was also the chairman of RPGC employees’ union and a signatory
to the collective agreement, filed the action on behalf of himself and 65 other
retrenched workers at the Industrial Relations Department here yesterday.</P><P>Earlier,
Ghanesen said the retrenched workers had no alternative but to take industrial
action .</P><P>"The union had, on numerous occasions, brought up workers’
grievances but there had been no response from the new employer or the state government,"
he said, adding that it was unfair of RPGC Bhd to terminate the employees just
because it had taken over the club.</P><P>Ghanesen said Article 1.02 of the CA
stated that in the event the club or the employees’ union changed its name,
or merged with, or was absorbed by another entity, the "collective agreement
shall continue to cover the employees… for the remaining period of validity
of the agreement".</P><P>"Under the collective agreement, the club can
only retrench workers when there is redundancy or when a particular unit or section
within the club had been closed down. That, however, was not the case at the club,"
he said.</P><P>A group of 73 employees were retrenched at the end of last month
by RPGC Bhd, which took over the management after the Perak state government assumed
control of the club through its investment arm, State Secretariat Incorporated,
last year.</P><P>Ghanesen said the former employees hoped to be reinstated in
their original positions, with pay and seniority remaining as before.</P><P><I>Source:
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/nst/Saturday/National/20070303090401/Article/local1_html</I>
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