A group of rice industry workers staged an hour-long picket in Petaling Jaya today to protest the restructuring exercise carried out by Padiberas Nasional Berhad (Bernas) which could leave thousands without a job.

The 30-odd demonstrators from the Bernas workers union held the picket outside the company's head office in Section 16.

They carried posters and placards which, among others, read: 'Corrupt management' and 'Rice smuggling, management conspired'.

There were several police personnel present but no untoward incidents were reported.

The demonstrators, mostly employed in non-executive positions in Bernas' offices outside of Kuala Lumpur, also accused the management of victimising workers.

The dispute came about after Bernas announced that it was forced to restructure and downsize as a result of losses due to rice smuggling activities.

Employees were shocked when the management offered voluntary separation schemes (VSS) to 3,117 out of its total 3,310 employees to take effect from this December.

No consultation

When met, union president Mansor Ariffin ( photo ) said the management gave employees less than a month to consider the offer as they were required to decide whether or not to accept the VSS by next Thursday.

"They came up with a scheme without consulting the union. The only time we met with the management was on July 11. That was our first and last meeting," said Mansor, who was leading the demonstration.

According to recent a circular distributed by Bernas CEO Ahmad Fuad Abdul Wahab, employees who have served since the privatisation of the National Paddy and Rice Board (LPN) in 1996 will be awarded compensation between 23 and 35 times of their last drawn salaries.

However, those who have been with the company since before the privatisation were only offered up to three months additional compensation.

"Some 80 percent of all Bernas workers are long-time employees who have been working since the LPN days," said Mansor, who has worked with the company for 30 years.

"About 400 people have accepted the VSS offers. A lot of them are just worried that if they did not accept the deal, they would be transferred to work in other states," he added.

The union president said he will deliver another memorandum to Ahmad Fuad later today urging the management to withdraw its VSS offer.

Falling profits

Meanwhile, several executives from the company also expressed dissatisfaction with the drastic cost cutting measures adopted by the management.

"A study by a consultancy firm found the company is 'overloaded' with staff. So they are now targetting to cut about 55 percent of all employees," said one of the executives who declined to be named.

Another executive who also requested anonymity, backed-up claims by the union that the company had turned in profits for the past two years, although profits fell last year compared to the previous financial year.

Based on a press release this June, Bernas announced a five percent increase in revenue from RM1.68 billion for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2001 to RM1.76 billion last year.

However, the company's pre-tax profit fell 54 percent from RM128.25 million in 2001 to RM59.04 million last year.

The duo also expressed unhappiness over the VSS offer which, according to them, appeared to favour the retention of longer-serving employees.

"The formula has been adjusted as though they prefer newer workers to leave while they retained the older staff,"said one of them.

Another hour-long picket was held this evening involving some 60 workers. The union was also scheduled to hold another picket in Jitra, Kedah on Saturday.

Bernas'Ahmad Fuad has yet to respond to questions faxed to his office by malaysiakini.