Malaysia is one of Asia's biggest employers of foreign labour. But recently, cases of deaths, abuse and forced labour have come to light. What is going on? Who is protecting these migrant workers?
Forty employees from the field and golf section, some of whom have had 30 years’
service, have received retrenchment letters terminating their services after
Oct 22.
<p>The RPGC branch of the Club Employees Union Peninsular Malaysia (CUPM) picketed
at the 80-year-old club yesterday, protesting the retrenchment and the continued
postponement of the Collective Agreement (CA) negotiations.</p>
<p>The CA expired last December.</p>
<p>CUPM secretary-general Abdullah Sani Abdul Hamid said the union was not consulted,
despite provisions in the CA.</p>
<p>"You can only retrench when there is redundancy. This is clearly not the
case here," he said, adding that there had been no response to repeated
enquiries about the status of the club’s 131 workers after the takeover.</p>
<p>Field section staff M. Mages, 49, who has worked at the club for 27 years,
received her letter of retrenchment on Aug 29.</p>
<p>She said the management had asked her to find a new job.</p>
<p>"What job can I apply for at my age? I have worked nearly all my life
here."</p>
<p>Even those who haven’t received retrenchment letters are worried because
the management has indicated that all the staff will be retrenched by the end
of the year.</p>
<p>The management of RPGC was handed over to the State Secretariat Incorporated
in May.</p>
<p>Under the new set-up, a public company, RPGC Bhd, has taken over the operations
of the club.
Address: Wisma MTUC,10-5, Jalan USJ 9/5T, 47620 Subang Jaya,Selangor | Tel: 03-80242953 | Fax: 03-80243225 | Email: sgmtuc@gmail.com.com