Sabah govt urged to resolve plight of SFI workers
SIPITANG: Parti Warisan Sabah vice-president Junz Wong has taken the State Government to task for not taking any concerted effort in resolving the plight of local workers of the Sabah Forest Industries (SFI)
Junz, who along with several fellow party leaders attended the protest organized by workers at the premises of the SFI factory here yesterday, pledged Warisan's support to help fight for the workers' welfare and to get their salaries from the employer.
He said there were approximately 1,600 Sabahan workers working in SFI and now they were living through the days with fear and uncertainty as to their job security and everyday living needs since November 2016.
According to him, the SFI had been delaying to pay workers' salaries since 2016 and the wait for salary gets longer and longer by the weeks.
“Since December 2016, I was told, SFI has stopped paying workers' EPF,” he lamented.
The SFI was establised by the State Government in the mid1980s. In 2007, it began operation as a subsidiary of India-based Ballapur Industries Limited (BIL) which is part of the Avantha Group of companies.
Junz, who is also the Likas assemblyman, said foreign companies operating in Sabah would have to comply with the Sabah Labour Law and other related laws.
“Why hasn't the Sabah state government taken drastic steps to make sure SFI comply with the existing laws?
“Sad part is that despite their (workers' action committee) plea and (SFI) workers union's open letter to the Sabah government to intervene in this matter and help the workers find a way to resolve this fiasco amicably, the Sabah government and even the wakil rakyat from Sipitang, especially the Sindumin assemblyman, have not responded and chose to keep mum.
“The Sabah government is obliged to look into the plight of the people of Sabah as it is the very same government who has allowed foreigners (India) to take up 98% of the SFI shares.
“The Sabah government still holds 2% share (in SFI), so its representative should find out (the problem) from SFI management and reveal it to the workers.
“I was told that the workers' union members had briefed the State Secretary Tan Sri Sukarti Wakiman on the workers' plight and yet nothing has materialized,” he said.
In this regard, Junz suggested that the Sabah government should help to the workers' union and the company stakeholders by sitting down in a roundtable to iron things out.
“What's the real situation of this fiasco and what's the future of SFI as it will have tremendous impacts on the people of Sipitang (as many families depend on SFI jobs for survival) and business community in Sipitang (as main economic activities in Sipitang are tied up with SFI operations),” said Junz, adding that he would bring up the issue during the State Legislative Assembly sitting next month.