R E T I R E M E N T A G E
MEF STANCE
SIMPLY INSULTING TO ALL WORKERS
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I refer to report dated 19 April IN
THE NST in which the Executive Director of MEF was quoted
Malaysian
Employers Federation executive director Shamsuddin Bardan said the
private sector preferred to adopt the present system where they offer
employment to productive employees who retire to continue serving the
company on contract basis.
"Many
companies are already offering employment to productive employees who
retire to continue work for a two-to three-year period on contract
basis. The services of these retired employees are reviewed when their
contracts end," he said when commenting on the government's move to
extend the retirement age for civil servants from 56 to 60 years.
Shamsuddin
said the problem with the blanket extension in retirement age was that
the employers would have to continue giving employment to the sick,
unproductive workers and problematic employees.
He said
the private sector felt that the best way was to give recognition to
hard working and productive staff by offering them work on contract
basis after retirement.
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MEF stance is not surprising as they
have long demonstrate that they only care about their members
profits but not about our nation’s overall productivity
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He is insulting all Malaysian workers
and implies that those who are 54 years are all and sick,
unproductive and problematic. We also do not see any valid arguments
that increasing retirement age will reduce productivity.
Productivity and efficiency is not an age issue. It is a management
issue. This must be addressed whether retirement age is increased or
not. A worker may be unproductive whether he is 30, 50 54 or 56
years old
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MEF keeps on harping on productivity.
The Malaysian Employers Federation’s view on productivity
improvement is simplistic – i.e. the more a worker produces, the
more he is paid. Question is, how do you expect a rubber tapper to
produce more if he still uses the same tool his grandfather used? It
must be noted that spending on Research and Development by the
private sector in Malaysia is extremely low
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MEF stance is directly responsible for
the 3 million foreign workers in the country, which the country
wants to abolish. Just compare Changi airport in Singapore where
Singaporeans in their late fifties and early sixties are efficiently
maintaining the airport, while KLIA is flooded with Bangladeshis.
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I challenge him to produce figures as
to how many workers were actually offered continue employment apart
from the high-powered managers and executive directors.
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If we were to accept MEF’s argument,
then there should not be a retirement age at all; everybody will
have to be on a yearly contract so that they can throw out sick
problematic and unproductive workers anytime.
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MTUC has always called for the
retirement age in both public & private sector in Malaysia to
increase to 60. It is high time and should be implemented
immediately. Please do not wait for another election results to do
what is obviously need for the nation to move forward.
Andrew
Lo
Secretary
19 APRIL 2007
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