MORE THAN 30 WORKERS AT GUPPY GET THE SACK !
Cheras Jaya, 29th. June2001
More than 30 workers who are abovethe age of fifty got a rude shock when their employer; Guppy Plastic IndustriesSdn. Bhd. gave them a 24 hours termination notice. The notice was handed tothem by the Human Resource Manager, Mr. Sivananthan who also gave each workersome money which he claimed as gratitude allowance.
By the way, the workers who had beenworking there, some of them for more than twenty years did not feel muchgratitude about this whole incident. Most of them were furious and have seenthe notice as a declaration of war by the employer.
What was even more annoying was theworkers were also told to come back to work on the 9th. July as theywill be then offered a contract job. Union chairperson, Comrade Koyilvani saidthis is the employer’s dirty tactics to make them contract workers. She saidthat the union would consider this an unlawful dismissal and take up the issue.By offering them contract job, it is also clear that the company is not facingany financial crisis but rather is a move to further maximize profit at theexpense of the workers welfare.
Comrade Letchimi Dewi, CommunityDevelopment Centre (CDC) coordinator met several affected workers at themovement office at Kajang. She said that the fifty years retirement age wasbelow the normal standard and in this case, the employer has a differentretirement age for men and women workers. This she said the is a grossviolation to Article 8 of the Federal Constitution which says that everyone isequal.
Some workers attribute the companiesaction is to have young workers who can work like machines so that the companycan maintain its ISO standards. The Union is not surprised with the company’sattitude. The Employers have a very bad Industrial record as they have not yetrecognized the union and have sacked the three principal office bearers of theunion.
As an immediate action, the unionwill be submitting a protest letter asking the employer to reinstate all theworkers. Failing which, the union along with the workers will be planning moredrastic actions. Workers who are not affected by this action are also veryannoyed with this move and have agreed to stand by their sacked comrades toseek justice.
S. Arutchelvan
Anjung Kiri 