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He said the government still wanted the fund be
established in tandem with reforms being made to the Employment Act to provide
more flexibility for employers to hire and fire workers.
<P>"We cannot
have a one-sided story (the employer only). We also have to look at the other
side of the story (the workers)," he added.</P><P>Fong was responding to
a reporter’s question on whether the Human Resources Ministry would continue with
efforts to set up a retrenchment fund after the MEF withdrew its support for the
proposal.</P><P>He was speaking after the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction
of a new 19-storey Kuala Lumpur Social Security Organisation (Socso) headquarters
in Jalan Raja Uda here today.</P><P>Construction of the RM64 million building
is by Bina Alam Bersatu, a subsidiary of KUB Malaysia Berhad. It is due for completion
in 33 months’ time.</P><P>MEF has decided to make a u-turn in supporting the setting
up of the fund for retrenched workers as they claimed "good employers are
paying for the mistakes made by bad employers".</P><P>Both MEF and the Malaysian
Trades Union Congress (MTUC) had "agreed in principle" at a National
Labour Action Council meeting last November to the setting up of the fund, which
would be similar to that of Sosco and the Employees Provident Fund.</P><P>MEF
has long complained that the current Employment Act is too rigid and this has
prompted the government to express its willingness to amend the Act provided a
retrenchment fund be set up as a safety net.</P><P>A special committee headed
by Human Resources Ministry secretary-general Datuk Thomas George with MEF and
MTUC representatives was later formed to look into the proposal. — BERNAMA</P>
<P><I>Source: http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news.php?id=239501</I>
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