Union to protest SFI layoffs

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Timber Industries Employees Union (STIEU) will submit a letter of protest to the Sabah Labour Department against the implementation of the temporary layoff program for the 1,390 employees of the Sabah Forest Industries (SFI) Sdn Bhd.

STIEU president Martin Kandong, who was contacted over the telephone, said that he himself would submit the letter to the department on Monday (December 4).

“Our protest on Monday is against the layoff program and retrenchment. SFI only informed the Labour Department on the layoff only but not on the retrenchment of employees who are under probation.”

“The retrenchment involves almost 80 employees but I do not know the current number which might be more than that. So, this is not mentioned in the newspapers nor announced during an assembly in the SFI hall,” he said.

He explained that the Labour Department did not give any approval for the layoff, which Martin claimed that SFI had something hidden over the hurried layoff implementation.

Martin said that the Labour Department had told him that SFI informed the department of its plan to implement the layoff but the company did not heed to the department’s advice.

In giving a quick recap on the day the SFI announced the layoff program, Martin said that there was no memo given to the employees beforehand and their attendance to SFI hall was compulsory.

“At that time the layoff program was to be announced, SFI employees were informed to attend a briefing at SFI hall without any memo or agenda on why the employees attendance was compulsory. After the employees attended (the briefing) then the SFI explained about the intended layoff.”

“A memo release was about the compulsory attendance. The layoff program was done without any discussion with the employees or union. SFI said that the Labour Department was already informed about it but at that time there was no Labour Department official there,” he explained.

He also said that during the briefing, SFI had restrained the employees from voicing their opinions during a questionand-answer session about the program that was already listed on papers.

“SFI did not give its employees freedom to speak. All questions from employees were already in papers as well as answers from SFI. This means that they restraint the employees from voicing their curiosities. There is time given to the employees to talk but it was limited.

Besides that, he claimed that the company was taking advantage of its employees who were not aware or had no knowledge about their rights.

“The union asserted that SFI did not follow the correct channel or the existing legislation. SFI had already put on the news regarding the layoff implementation. So, the union cannot allow this to happen before receiving any statement from the Labour Department.

“SFI had published this (layoff program) in the newspapers without any approval or formal discussion or written papers from the Labour Department. This means that SFI made this for its own interest and deceived the employees.”

“What I know is that the Labout Department was not informed about the retrenchment and it was only informed about lay-off. The layoff was not allowed by the department but SFI did it,” he explained.

He also said that the layoff program involved 1,390 employees of SFI regardless of the departments.

Published in newspapers on December 1, SFI has been forced to implement the temporary layoff program for its employees due to financial constraints.

The company disclosed that the temporary layoff program will start on January 1, next year and the duration of the program is expected to last up to the end of June 2018.