the blogging syed shahir

Star Online 18 Apr 2008

By SIM LEOI LEOI

PUTRAJAYA: The Government has agreed to five of the six demands by Cuepacs, including extending the retirement age for civil servants from 56 years to 60, and the scrapping of the efficiency level assessment (PTK) examination.

However, there will be no RM2,000 honorarium payment in lieu of bonuses for last year.

Cuepacs president Omar Osman said that in a 45-minute meeting with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at his office here yesterday, the Government had agreed to all its demands except the honorarium.

“The Prime Minister explained that should the Government give out the honorarium, it may spur another round of price increases, like what happened last year when we received our salary revision.

“We agreed that we should sacrifice this demand as we also don’t want certain parties to take advantage by increasing the prices of goods,” he said, adding that Cuepacs was mindful that prices of certain goods such as flour, bread and rice had also been increasing recently.

However, Omar said the Government had agreed to the other demands – the extension of the retirement age, reinstatement of critical and housing allowances, pension payment to be based on one’s actual years of service and the scrapping of the PTK exam.

“The Prime Minister will make the announcement soon,” he said, describing the outcome of the meeting as “positive”.

“Cuepacs is relieved the Government has agreed to all of the above,” he said, adding that the Public Service Department (PSD) would brief Cuepacs today on the new method of evaluation for PTK.

The PTK, which has become a bone of contention among the 1.2 million civil servants, was introduced in 2002 when the Malaysian Remuneration System replaced the New Remuneration System.

Passing the PTK exam was used as a basis for promotion in the civil service.

Besides Cuepacs and Abdullah, others present at the meeting included Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan, PSD director-general Tan Sri Ismail Adam and Finance Ministry secretary-general Datuk Dr Wan Abd Aziz Wan Abdullah.

Asked if this meant that Cuepacs would not be boycotting the Workers Day event on May 3, Omar said the main exco of the civil servants umbrella group was happy with the results of the meeting.

“However, we still have to bring the matter of boycotting the event to our members to decide tomorrow afternoon (today),” he said.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) felt that the extension of the civil servants’ retirement age to 60 should have been implemented much earlier.

Its president Syed Shahir Syed Mohamud said this had been MTUC’s request for more than two years.

He said Abdullah “was not sensitive enough to MTUC’s requests” previously.

“If we compare ourselves to our neighbouring countries such as Singapore, India, the Philippines and others, we are in fact behind them in this aspect.

“The retirement ages in these countries are from 60 to 65, and we are only now extending it to 60,” he said.

National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) secretary-general Lok Yim Pheng said the union was pleased that the Government had agreed to five of the six demands by Cuepacs.

“There is a lot of good news for teachers such as the extension of the retirement age,” she said.

Lok, who also attended the meeting with the Prime Minister, said she would be able to brief members after she attended the PSD briefing on the PTK evaluation.

The Star Online

PUTRAJAYA: The Government wants to do away with foreign workers as their numbers – both legal and illegal – have reached three million.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said he would seek the cooperation of the Human Resources Ministry to find ways to reduce the demand for foreign workers.

Speaking to reporters after visiting the Immigration Department here yesterday, he said the move would also ensure that there would be no unemployment among Malaysians.
Getting feedback: Hamid speaking with some members of the public during his visit to the Immigration Department in Putrajaya yesterday.

He said cooperation from employers was most important as they created the demand for foreign workers and this had also caused illegal foreigners to enter the country in droves.

“We want to see the demand for foreigners totally scrapped, that is our aim. We need cooperation from those who are seeking workers.

“We need a collective and planned effort from all quarters including the Human Resources Ministry to ensure that we depend only on our own citizens,” he said, adding that illegal foreign workers were one of the biggest problems the ministry was facing.

When asked for more attractive perks and benefits for locals to take up jobs that were now dominated by foreigners, he said for an unemployed Malaysian any job would be attractive.

In PETALING JAYA, the Malaysian Employers Federation and Malaysian Trades Union Congress said that the Government must have a clear policy on migrant workers and not act on an ad hoc basis.

MEF executive director Shamsuddin Bardan said he was not against the move to scrap dependence on foreign workers but it must be planned properly.

“We don’t want to have a knee-jerk reaction and be caught off-guard. This could affect productivity,” he said.

“The cause of the high influx of illegals should not be confused with employers’ demand for documented workers. It’s partly because the Government has been too lenient,” he said.

MTUC president Syed Shahir Syed Mohamud said the organisation was not against hiring migrant workers but also said the Government must have a clear policy on why they were brought in.

The Star Online

SHAH ALAM: About 300 employees of a plastic manufacturing factory in Section 15 here were shocked when they went to work in the morning but found themselves locked out of the premises yesterday.

“We also found a notice of liquidation pasted on the factory gate,” said supervisor M. Thanapal, adding that the owners of the family-run business had not told the workers about the closure.

He said the factory’s in-house union had a meeting with the management two weeks ago and was not told about the liquidation order.

“They informed us that the company was facing financial problems and told us that we would all struggle together to overcome the problem. The management also promised to give us a month’s notice if the company faced closure,” said Thanapal.

The factory’s 200 Malaysian employees and about a hundred foreign workers decided to picket outside the premises yesterday.

Also at the picket were MTUC president Syed Shahir Syed Mohamud, secretary-general G. Rajasekaran and deputy secretary-general Abdul Halim Mansor.

Abdul Halim said the factory’s foreign workers found themselves in a quandary as their passports were held by the company’s officials. They are also likely to lose their accommodation benefit.

“So we have put up a tent in front of the factory for the foreign workers to stay in the event they have nowhere to go,” said Halim.

He added that the MTUC would help the employees file a complaint with the Industrial Relations and Labour Departments.

Newly-elected Shah Alam MP Khalid Abdul Samad was also present.

Kerani Felda
Fri | Apr 04, 08 | 12:08:58 pm MYT

Akhir-akhir ini, kejayaan Felda dalam meningkatkan taraf hidup sebahagian rakyat sering digembar-gemburkan. Tetapi sedarkah para pembaca sekalian bahawa ada kalangan pekerja-pekerja Felda yang seakan-akan dianaktirikan?

Sebagai contoh, gaji kakitangan bukan eksekutif seperti penyelia dan kerani berada di bawah paras kemiskinan, dengan gaji pokok RM700 sebulan tanpa elaun seperti Cola dan perumahan.

Nama Felda kononnya ke taraf global tetapi rakyat tidak tahu penderitaan kakitangan bawahannya. Malah kakitangan syarikat Felda terpaksa tinggal di kawasan pedalaman.

Sebenarnya pendapatan Felda banyak. Sebagai contoh, salah sebuah anak syarikat Felda iaitu Felda Plantations Sdn Bhd memperolehi keuntungan lebih RM1 bilion pada 2007 kerana harga komoditi sawit melebihi RM600 setan.

Bagaimanapun kakitangan Felda Plantations adalah di antara yang tersikit mendapat bonus tahunan. Tahun lepas ada kakitangan yang dapat hanya sebulan sahaja. Sedangkan syarikat lain walaupun punyai keluasan ladang 6,000 ekar mampu membayar bonus yang lebih tinggi.

Wang kumpulan Felda telah dibelanjakan secara boros sejak Felda diletakkan di bawah penguasaan politik, iaitu di bawah Timbalan Perdana Menteri, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak. Pengerusi Felda kini ialah Tan Sri Dr Yusof Noor manakala Pengarah Urusan Felda Holding ialah Dato’ Mohamad Bakke Salleh yang baru dua tahun dilantik.

Penindasan paling terkini adalah kadar kenaikan gaji tahunan pada Januari 2008. Ada kakitangan yang hanya dinaikkan gaji sebanyak RM40 sedangkan pegawai atasan yang bergaji melebihi RM10,000 menerima kenaikan gaji pelarasan sehingga 25 peratus.

Untuk makluman, gaji penyelia dan kerani di semua anak syarikat Felda seperti Felda Plantations, Felda Agricultural, Felda Technoplant dan lain-lain adalah di bawah paras kemiskinan iaitu RM700 sebulan, sedangkan gaji pekerja asing daripada Indonesia dan Bangladesh telah dinaikkan sehingga ada yang melebihi RM1,000 sebulan.

Inilah yang dicanang oleh Najib ke seluruh negara bahawa Felda telah mencapai tahap dunia.

Tidak lama lagi menara Felda setinggi 50 tingkat akan mula dibina berhampiran menara berkembar Petronas. Semakin kempislah tabung Felda.

Nasib yang dialami para pekerja Felda ini telah dibawa ke pengetahuan Najib sama ada melalui kesatuan mahupun saluran lain. Namun tidak di endahkan.

Mungkin beliau memikirkan undi kakitangan kumpulan Felda berjumlah lebih 10,000 orang tidak penting berbanding lebih 100,000 orang peneroka di seluruh negara.

Saya berharap Pakatan Rakyat dapat memperjuangkan nasib kakitangan bukan eksekutif Felda dan anak syarikatnya di Dewan Rakyat.