Sunday October 12, 2008

Story and Photo by CHRISTINA TAN (courtesy THESTAR Online / The STAR pg 8)

KLANG:
Some 140 security personnel at Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah (HTAR) here went on strike for 15 hours on Friday over a salary dispute. The 70 personnel who were to report for night shift at 8pm, refused to do so. Langahati Kuwak, 54, a security supervisor, said the company, an outsourcing company with the Health Ministry at HTAR, had not paid their basic salary since June. He said their full salary was about RM800 each. “Our life is in limbo now, I have four school-going children in Semporna, Sabah, and I need to send money home,” he said.



Langahati said they were paid a few times a month, between RM100 and RM200 each time. Unhappy workers: Dr Xavier (second right) speaking to the security personnel who went on strike over salary dispute at the Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Saturday. “But the partial salary that I received is not enough even for myself,” he said.

State Health, Plantation Work­ers, Poverty and Caring Govern­ment committee chairman Dr A. Xavier Jayakumar said he had contacted the director of the security company on the matter. “The company has promised to meet with the hospital director to sort out the matter before Wednesday. “If the company fails to do so, the state government might suggest that the hospital write a recommendation letter to the ministry to terminate the services of the security company,” he said.

Dr Xavier said the delay in paying salaries was a serious matter as hospital security would be at stake with no security officers. Dr Xavier added the state government would investigate claims by some of the personnel that their employer had not made contributions to the Employees Provident Fund and Socso.

Meeting the security personnel at the hospital at 11am yesterday, he told them to get back to work and let the hospital management and state government resolve the problem. HTAR director Dr Ghazali Hasni Md Hassan said the security company started its services at the hospital in June. All the security personnel working at the HTAR were Malay­­sians

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