Bersatu: Petronas job losses affect all - contract or permanent

Summary

• Bersatu vice-president Radzi Jidin reminds the government that job losses affect all workers equally, regardless of their employment status.

• This comes after Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said the impending job cuts by Petronas will primarily impact contract staff.

• Petronas is cutting about 10 percent of its workforce, over 5,000 people, by year-end, due to falling crude oil prices and declining profits.

Bersatu vice-president Radzi Jidin today reminded the government that redundancies affect all categories of workers, regardless of whether they are contract staff or permanent employees.

He was responding to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who earlier said the move by Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) to trim its workforce by 10 percent involves mostly contract workers.

“Whether contract staff or permanent staff, losing one’s job always has a significant impact on oneself and one’s family.

“Let us all pray together that their affairs may be made easy, regardless of whether they are contract or permanent staff. Our lives must always have a sense of humanity,” Radzi said on his Facebook page.

Bloomberg yesterday reported that Petronas will cut its workforce by about 10 percent to reduce costs amid falling crude oil prices and the effect of unpredictable market fluctuations on its profits.

The national oil and gas company’s president and group CEO Tengku Taufik Tengku Kamadjaja Aziz reportedly said this will affect more than 5,000 people, who will be informed by the end of the year.

Aside from the company-wide restructuring, all promotion and hiring activities will be frozen until December 2026, he reportedly said during a briefing in Kuala Lumpur.

According to the report, Petronas’ profits had fallen by 32 percent last year, after a 21 percent decline the previous year.

On Feb 27, Taufik said Petronas was evaluating its workforce “right-sizing” exercise, adding that it should be finalised by mid-2025.

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