Free Malaysia Today

July 08, 2010

By G Vinod and B Nantha Kumar

FMT FEATURE SUNGAI BULOH: Kuala Lumpur-Kepong Berhad was taken to task for neglecting the plight of its workers and 24 families living at the Coalfield oil palm estate.

The Malaysia Consumer Advisory Association (MCAA), which has taken the case to the authorities, said the the workers were only asking for their just dues.

“All they ask for is to be properly compensated and be allowed to own an affordable house for their families,” said MCAA president Varatharajoo Murugan.

Varatharajoo said the workers had demanded for houses at a 50 percent discount, lay-off benefits, yearly service benefits and pay for the months they have been been without a job.

The workers were sacked in December in 2009, and in a bid to forcefully evict the families, water supply was cut off by the management and they were allowed only conditional access to the outside world.

Despite the hardships, the workers remained in the estate because they had nowhere to go, and they could not afford to buy into a housing scheme developed by the estate owners.

“The developer offered them housing for RM35,000. They must understand that most of these workers are about 50-years-old. Which bank will offer them a housing loan?“KL-Kepong must pay them for the months they were jobless. It is not that they did not want to work (in a sister estate), but Tuan Mee estate did not provide them jobs as promised.”

“This has definitely put the workers in a fix. Even if they manage to get a housing loan, how are they expected to service the loan as they are out of jobs?” asked Varatharajoo.

He added that the developer also promised to relocate their school and temple but to date have not shown the workers the proposed site for the relocation.

Little help from the NUPW

Varatharajoo took a swipe at the National Union of Plantation Workers (NUPW) for neglecting the workers as it should have been the one empowering the workers to fight for their rights.

“There were (originally) 64 families living in Coalfield estate and the developer built 92 houses for the workers on the advise of NUPW Selangor branch chief S Balakrishnan.

“Balakrishnan, who is also the Coalfield estate MIC branch chairman, had allocated 28 of the 92 units for his family members,” Varatharajoo alleged.

A resident Lobat Raju said the dispute between the workers and KL-Kepong Berhad started in 1991 when the company served the workers termination notices, saying that it had sold and transferred ownership of the estate to KL-Kepong Country Homes Sdn Bhd.

“The new owners agreed to continue to employ us in the estate without break in service. We consulted the NUPW and were assured that we can continue to work and live there. So we agreed to the deal,” said Lobat.

But the situation suddenly changed in May 2007 and once again KL-Kepong Bhd became their employer and this time, they issued the workers a notice of transfer.

“We were told to vacate our quarters by June 30, 2007. The developer the offered us the townhouses which they had built in a nearby residential area for RM42,000 each.

“After much pleading, they brought the price down to RM35,000. I’m earning RM20 a day as a palm oil harvester. How am I going to get a housing loan for a RM35,000 house?” asked Lobat, whose family has lived at Coalfield estate for four generations.

Varatharajoo, meanwhile, also revealed that the MCAA and the affected Coalfield Estate workers plan to hold a peaceful protest in the front of the Selangor MB’s office before the end of month.

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