Former estate workers from two plantations in Perak lodged a police report last weekend against their ex-employer for attempting to evict them from their homes through various methods.
The two groups, from Ladang Kamiri and Ladang Changkat Salak, who have been served eviction notices each filed a report against Kumpulan Guthrie Bhd at the Sungai Siput police station at about 11am on Sunday.
According to one of the police reports obtained by malaysiakini , the former workers of Guthrie said they felt threatened by the national conglomerates actions such as leaving behind asbestos waste that was exposed after some old living quarters were demolished in Ladang Changkat Salak last year.
The ex-employer demolished the houses without following the guidelines set by the state health department, they said.
Stopped services
The company also stopped providing services such as cleaning of drains, septic tank repairs and grass-cutting around the living quarters, they claimed.
The services only resumed after the workers complained about the matter to the labour and health departments, they said in the report.
According to M Sukumaran of grassroots organisation Alaigal which fights for estate workers rights, the ex-workers have been trying to seek a dialogue with the plantation giant but to no avail.
We tried, but theres been no reply, he said, adding that they then sent letters and a memorandum to Guthrie on the matter. Instead, the workers were slapped with eviction notices.
On April 4, more than 100 former estate workers from Selangor and Perak staged a protest in front of Wisma Guthrie in Kuala Lumpur asking the conglomerate to provide alternative housing for them.
Plight of retrenched workers
They were from Ladang Kamiri and Ladang Changkat Salak in Perak; Ladang Bukit Tinggi, Klang; Ladang Ampar Tenang, Dengki; and Ladang Midlands in Selangor.
They also handed a memorandum highlighting their plight to Guthries director for plantations, Abu Hanipah Abdul Wahid.
In the memorandum, the former workers urged Guthrie to be more sensitive to the problems faced by retrenched estate workers.
They claimed the minimal RM300 compensation for a year of service stipulated under the Employment Act is not sufficient, and instead asked for RM1,000 for each year of service.
They demanded for allocation of alternative accommodation for ex-employees, such as free housing lots or terrace houses at reduced prices for every worker who was retrenched at the end of 1999 due to replanting and development projects.
They also urged the conglomerate to have a dialogue with its ex-employees to resolve retrenchment-related problems.
A day after the protest, however, the ex-workers from Ladang Changkat Salak were served a two-week eviction notice and warned that failure to vacate their homes will entail legal action against them.
When contacted on these charges, Guthrie requested malaysiakini s questions to be faxed over first before it replies to them.
