Saturday, December 20, 2008

Aku Dah Penat

Really, the season holidays gets to everyone especially when the gloomy economy outlook throughout. Think of it as people getting the pink slip during Hari Raya holidays or the Chinese New Year. Bad news is, Malaysia is getting the start of the brunt of the economic crisis.

Today, Western Digital announced they will shut down their Sarawak plant and letting go about 1200 workers there and this was done without any warnings to the Industrial Relations Department. But in light of things, it's going to get far worse. One thing though, why don't let go of all those foreign workers and illegals instead of getting locals?

The place I work here in Kuala Pilah (the main plant) is located at the Small Medium Enterprise light industry area is located in the rural areas, 40km off Seremban en route to Kuantan bypass had seen influx of people asking about for vacancies.Among the list of prospectors are university graduates whom either looking for work or being short listed for retrenchment.

One of the sad news I got a few days back was the imminent retrenchment of contract and outsourced workers in the telecommunications industry. Namely due to the poor performance during the year, reliable sources within the HR dept concluded that over 40,000 workers at both TM and Time will be forced to let go of their jobs, namely call centers and non essential personnel. I mean, is it that bad that the government dare not admit? Had it not be for our agricultural industry and the growth in that industry, we will be in more serious threat to the economic sense.

Singapore has decided that it's time to restart all projects, rebuilding , getting the money into the cycle, with costs lower than ever. Malaysia on the other hand is cutting back, projects getting shelved and more homes get abandoned by their developers. The project off Jalan Pekeliling where the Jalan Pahang roundabout it had been abandoned for more than a decade, and same as the one off the NPE where the USJ outskirts end. Where is this going, I don't know but if one is not choosy, one will get some work to pay bills, even though how small the amount is.

True to the words, our locals are just plain lazy. They lack discipline and like to give excuses. This is when times are good, but with times now so bad, that even a basic salary of RM350 +++ will have graduates applying for the job of a factory hand.Some gave themselves excuses and get paid just that, and some who does work at full term, gets a salary double their basic, as attendance allowances and such are part and parcel of factory life. You get paid by the hour. I learn that lesson when I was in the UK, and now the practice has begun here.

I just hope that we don't have that many people being sacked at one go....just hope..but anything can happen.

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