WHIPPING, IMPRISONMENT FOR EMPLOYER WHO SACKS LOCAL WORKERS

KUALA LUMPUR, May 14 (Bernama) -- The Malaysia Airlines System Employees'
Union (Maseu) has proposed that employers who sack their local employees and
hire foreign workers be punished with whipping and imprisonment.

Its Executive Secretary, Mustafar Maarof said that such punishment was vital
especially when the employers' discrimination against local workers had become
very rampant.

"So far the Section 99 (A) of the Employment Act 1955 only carries a fine of
not more than RM10,000. So, the country's labour law as well as certain
provisions under other laws should be amended in line with the current
situation," he said in a statement Wednesday.

Mustafar also alleged that there were some employers who had been
outsourcing and transferring their local workers to other departments for a few
months and later declared a surplus of workers at the department to the Labour
Department.

"The appointed outsourcing companies will supply foreign workers to take
over the local workers' jobs," he said.

Apart from outsourcing and using the voluntary separation scheme (VSS), the
employers were also alleged to have been using other tactics, whether directly
or indirectly, to hire foreign workers.

"Some of them even made a gimmick by putting up a vacancy banners looking
for local workers and conducting interviews for the purposes, but eventually
declared that none of the local workers were interested nor qualified for the
job, even if the post offered was only as a factory worker," he added.
-- BERNAMA