The Box Pak Malaysia Sdn Bhd employees union have succeeded in getting their employer to meet their demands in principle, with the help of the National Union of Paper and Paper Products Manufacturing Employees Union and non-governmental organisations.

During negotiations mediated by the Industrial Relations Department (IRD), the union managed to get the company to agree in principle to reinstate a sacked employee and pay one month's bonus to all employees of the factory.

Union secretary and machine operator Rani Veeriah, 43, had been sacked for refusing to comply with a transfer to another post. The union, however, claimed that the transfer was a union-busting tactic as other union members had also been forced to change postings.

"During the Feb 17 meeting between the management, union and an IRD official, the manager agreed to give me back my job. However I've not heard from them officially since then," Rani said when contacted today.

Saying that she would wait until the end of the month for a reply, she said she hoped that it was not a trick by the management.

"The national union representative told me to send a letter of appeal to the company to ask for my job back. I'm not comfortable doing so as it was not my faut that I was sacked. My termination was unfair," she said.

"The one-month bonus is an interim gesture as the original demand for a two-month bonus - which had consistently been paid over the years - will be discussed during a collective agreement (CA) meeting to be held on March 7.

"The manager told the meeting that the company's board and shareholders would have to meet to decide whether or not to give us an increment and another month's bonus."

Only the company's managerial and executive-level employees had received a one-month bonus at the end of last year.

Follow-up efforts

Union members staged pickets , sought the assistance of the national union and activists, lodged complaints with the IRD and attempted to meet Human Resource Minister Dr Fong Chan Onn ( photo ) when they were allegedly harassed by the management.

"The union members are happy with the recent developments but if these are not followed through, all our efforts would be wasted," Rani added.

Contacted for comment, the national union's organising secretary S Somahsundram, who has been involved in the issue, said any transfer of employees is in the prerogative of management.

"Rani should not feel uncomfortable about appealing to the company. At the last meeting, some agreements were agreed to in principle, but we'll have to wait for implementation," he said.

Somahsundram added that it was unfortunate the union was being influenced to make claims beyond the norm for a CA, such as the demand for a 30 percent salary increase when the common practice is to allow for a raise of about eight percent.