Riot’s reason for denying IRC hearing for MAS workers case ‘unaceptable’ — Chong

KUCHING: DAP Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen alleges that the federal government had used dirty tactics to deny the laid- off MAS workers a legal recourse to claim their rightful entitlement.

He said the decision by Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot to not refer their complaints to the Industrial Relations Court Tribunal on grounds of unjustified dismissal, was most unacceptable.

“Riot had said that the government could not do anything and would not refer the case to the Industrial Relations Court as MAS was longer in existence, leaving all the 3,600 retrenchedMAS employees with no legal recourse.

“The decision by Riot was most unreasonable and cannot be accepted because MAS is still under special administrators and not bankrupt.

“Aside from that, MAS is also a government-linked company ( GLC), not purely a private entity,” he told a press conference at DAP headquarters here yesterday.

According to Chong, who is Bandar Kuching MP, the windingup tactic is a very common dirty tactic used by some ‘crooks’ in the private sector to circumvent the requirement of the law to properly compensate their employees.

He said by not referring the complaint of the retrenched MAS workers to the Industrial Court because the airline had already wound-up, Riot was telling Malaysians that the government itself was adopting the dirty tactics of some private businesses to deny the employees of MAS from getting their rightful entitlement.

“In other words, this government is as bad and dishonest as some ‘crooks’ in the private sector.

“I’m not saying all businesses in the private sector are bad because there are also businessmen who are honest. Although they close down their company, they still pay their workers.

“But there are some business ‘crooks’ using such a tactic or an excuse to deny their workers (their rights),” he said.

Chong said the government should never use such a dirty tactic to deny employees of their rights to retrenchment benefits, yet it was doing exactly what the business ‘crooks’ were doing.

He alleged that Riot, as the minister, was facilitating such a dishonest scheme.

“Under the current law, the minister has to agree to refer all cases to the Industrial Relations Court Tribunal; otherwise, the case cannot go the tribunal, and the workers have no legal recourse.”

Chong said he would confront Riot on this matter in the coming Parliament sitting, which is scheduled to run from Oct 24 to Dec 1.