The Human Resource Ministry has promised to look into the plight of 549 former workers of telecommunications company Paycomm Network Sdn Bhd, who say they have been unfairly dismissed and that wages due to them have not been paid.

The group's spokesperson Abdul Malek Kamaruddin, said Human Resource Minister Dr S Subramaniam gave his pledge to investigate the matter after hearing their appeal during a 90-minute meeting in at the ministry office in Pusat Bandar Damansara yesterday.

"The decision is simple. The human resource minister will find out whether Paycomm Networks is still a government-linked company (GLC). This is his promise.

NONE "If it is still a GLC, he will ensure that the arrears, which runs into millions of ringgit in total, will be paid... He will talk to the Treasury and the Finance Ministry," Abdul Malek told about 60 of his former colleagues gathered outside the ministry office.

Sungei Siput MP and labour activist Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj ( right ), who accompanied 20 of the former workers to the meeting with Subramaniam, said he was pleased with the outcome of the meeting.

However, Jeyakumar said, it was vital that the federal government establishes a retrenchment fund to help workers as they were victims of a company that has not been able to pay them.

Winning only on paper

"It is good that the minister is willing to go beyond the law. The law as it is doesn't really protect the workers. We need a retrenchment fund. With companies like this that cannot pay their workers, the fund can kick in and pay the wages rightfully due.

"The law currently only provides for the companies to be taken to court. There are 41 cases where the total arrears amounts to RM1.6 million, but the company isn't paying.

"When you win a court case, you only win it on a piece of paper. That is why the MTUC is asking for a retrenchment fund," said Jeyakumar, who is also a Parti Sosialis Malaysia central committee member.

The services of the 549 former Paycomm Network workers were terminated in late 2010, with immediate effect on grounds that the company was no longer able to source business from Telekom Malaysia Bhd.

R Rajen, 48, a former regional manager with Paycopmm Network, said he had been working for the company since 1994, when it was then owned by another company.

Rajen said his termination as an employee of Paycomm Network had severely affected his family, including forcing his daughter to give up her law studies midway, since he is the sole breadwinner.

Another former employee, Saiful Zamrud Bahaudin, 49, said his termination had left him badly in debt because he took a loan back in 2001 to take advantage of an employee share option scheme (ESOS).

 

Fung Lee Jean and Ong Mui Keow, from Johor Bahru, are citizen journalists trained by Citizen Journalists Malaysia.