Retrenchment ‘the last resort’

Thursday December 4, 2008
Retrenchment ‘the last resort’
By MAZWIN NIK ANIS

PUTRAJAYA: The Government will ensure that retrenchment is the last resort by employers should the need to downsize arise.
Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam also said that the ministry would also ensure that employers let go of foreign workers first.
“That is the rule. We will see to it that bosses adhere to the Employment Act where recently employed workers will have to be retrenched first,” he said in an interview.
He said the Government would do everything in its power to assist retrenched workers.
“We will also help the retrenched workers look for new employment and provide allowance should they opt to take up training or skills courses while awaiting a suitable job,” he said. Dr Subramaniam said the Government had put in place various initiatives, including training, retraining and creating new job opportunities for the displaced.
The new initiatives are part of the National Action Plan for Employment beginning this year until 2010.
It aims to tackle the unemployment rate, heavy dependence on foreign workers, fast-changing demands of the labour market and enhance the country’s labour market competitiveness.
Dr Subramaniam said that under the action plan, the Government would help create more jobs for the retrenched and the unemployed.
He said training would be provided so they would become valuable workers while more value would be given to jobs via advanced training, including to workers in the tourism and hospitality sectors.