Thursday, September 18, 2014

MALAYSIA:::KTMB continues witch- hunt, sacks more unionists


The witch-hunt against members of the Railwaymen’s Union of Malaya (RUM) continues with the sacking of seven more members over the past week, bringing the total to 18 persons.
The union’s president Abdul Razak Md Hassan told Malaysiakiniyesterday that three of these were branch committee members and the other four are ordinary members.
He reiterated that the sackings are unfair because the union members were only conducting legitimate union activities, and urged Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai to intervene.
“We hope Liow and the prime minister intervene immediately because they are in a position to make an immediate decision to stop this oppressive action.
“We are hoping that the prime minister would intervene before the sackings stretches to other union officials and members, because action would be taken against all 700 members who took part in the picket,” he said.
RUM held a picket on May 9 calling for Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) president Elias Kadir’s resignation.
On Sept 11, about a week ago, Abdul Razak held a press conference claiming that 11 people have been sacked, 88 people have been issued show cause letters, and another 13 have been suspended in connection to the picket.
Since then, he said more union members have been receiving termination notices, the last of whom received a letter dated on Monday just yesterday.
“This would mean their families and children would lose their source of income. They have a low income and rely solely on their employment with KTMB.
“These sackings are not legitimate because the unions and their members were performing their duties as union members. These sacking are very, very harsh,” he said.
He added that this shows that Elias needs to be removed from office not only to save the company, but also its workers.

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