Sarawak Latest News

Employees of Western Digital Media (M) Sdn Bhd (WD) are left in a lurch.
Instead of getting compensations for being laid-off as promised by the company management last week, they have been informed to continue working as normal until further notice.

The notice came as a surprise to some 1,500 employees who now face a lot of inconvenience concerning housing, paying back bank loans and taking new job offers or starting their own businesses.

An anonymous WD employee who comes from the production floor said when the company decided to shut down in December last year, many already prepared for the worst as a result of retrenchment.

He said some had plans to start their own businesses using their compensation money which was supposed to be released in batches starting Feb 17 to 20. But on Feb 16, a memo was sent to all employees stating that the retrenchment date had been deferred until further notice.

The reason given was because a company might acquire WD and its existing staff, said the employee who had worked there for more than 10 years.

WD took over from Komag Sdn Bhd one and a half years ago. Komag was set up in the 1990s.

It informed all employees about the closure and that retrenchment would be done in batches with the first on Feb 20 and the second March 27.

The employee said: “Some of us already told our landlords that we will move out from our rented homes by Feb 23, but now that we’re still working and have to put up temporarily at friends’ houses.

“We also have colleagues from Miri who already sent their family members back last week and are supposed to leave Kuching this week but could not do so now because of the very last minute change. This is very unfair to us. We feel victimised by the company,” he told reporters here yesterday.

The memo, signed by WD vice president Datuk Don Blake said: “In the event that there is such an acquisition the closure and shutting down of its operation and the retrenchment will clearly become unnecessary and staff can continue to retain their jobs.

“In view of that, our factory operations will continue to run as normal and all employees will continue to work as normal in their respective working area and our last date of employment will be deferred to a later date that will be informed in due course.

“In the event that acquisition does not happen, the compensation package set out in Appendix A of the Notice which you have accepted will still be applicable with the exception that your last date of employment will be on a later date that will be informed in due course and the dates of signing of the deed of settlement and compromise and a supporting statutory declaration confirming due compliance with the terms of the deed will be on a later date that will be informed in due course.

“The company will keep the employees informed on the latest developments and decision once it is available in a next few weeks.”

Another WD employee said WD was playing ‘games’ with them and only concerned with protecting the company’s welfare not the employees.

“When some of us raised our problems to our human resource officers, we were told that the problems were ours, not the company’s and that the door was wide open if we were unhappy. But our problems started from the company,” he lamented.

He said because of financial constraints in recent months, some of them had asked for extension to pay back their car and house loans until they received their compensations.

“Whether WD finds a buyer or not, the company should fulfill its promise to us and pay the compensation as promised,” he said.

“Some of us already got new job offers and supposed to start work this week, but because of the change, we can’t leave WD. If we leave, we’ll lose our compensation,” he said.

He said they did not expect the change as WD management had advised them to look for new jobs and even organised job fair to assist them in finding new jobs.

“We don’t mind starting all over again with lower pay under a new management for as long as WD pays out our compensation,” he pointed out.

He urged the company to be accountable and transparent in its action.

“Don’t keep us guessing,” he said.

Another employee said: “How can you expect us to work productively under such pressure? Even if there is a new management, we’ll be unhappy and this will not be fair to the new owner.”

He urged the government, particularly Ministry of Industrial Development, to intervene in the matter as employees felt that they were on the losing end.

He said some of them sought assistance from the Legal Aid Bureau at Simpang Tiga and a lawyer advised them to be patient as the company might have reasons to sack them, which would leave them with nothing.

“We’ve been advised go to work as usual and not to stage any protests or give any reasons to the company to sack us in the coming weeks. Otherwise, we’ll not get a sen,” he said.

He said his fear was that the company was trying to provoke them into quitting their jobs voluntarily or to get them to create reasons to fire them.

The employee said they were told that their cheques were ready to be distributed to them starting Feb 17 but a memo issued on the evening of Feb 16 changed everything and put everyone in a limbo once again.