Tiada halangan kakitangan awam kerja sambilan jika dapat kelulusan

Berita Harian

KUALA LUMPUR: Kementerian Sumber Manusia tidak akan menghalang mana-mana kakitangan awam daripada bekerja sambilan selepas waktu kerja rasmi atau hujung minggu berikutan kenaikan kos sara hidup sekiranya diluluskan kerajaan.

Timbalan Menterinya, Datuk Noraini Ahmad, berkata sekiranya syarat yang sedang dikaji kerajaan bersama Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam (JPA) diluluskan, pihaknya tidak membantah.

“Memang dalam pekeliling mengatakan kakitangan awam tidak boleh cari pekerjaan kedua tapi apabila Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri, Tan Sri Amirsham Abdul Aziz mengalakkan perkara sedemikian maka kami (kementerian) amat mengalu-alukannya, asalkan kakitangan awam tahu tanggungjawab ataupun tugas utama mereka,” katanya.

"Kakitangan awam yang mahu bekerja sambilan juga seharusnya tidak melebihkan kerja sambilan kerana dikhuatiri mengganggu produktiviti dan mesti mendapat kelulusan JPA terlebih dahulu," katanya kepada pemberita selepas melancarkan Buku Panduan Keselamatan dan Kesihatan Pekerjaan di Sekolah Kebangsaan Taman Seri Gombak Dua, di sini, hari ini.

Noraini berkata demikian ketika diminta mengulas kenyataan Amirsham semalam yang menyebut kerajaan akan berbincang dengan JPA bagi mencari jalan terbaik untuk membolehkan kakitangan awam terutama kumpulan sokongan bekerja sambilan.

Amirsham berkata, sebagai contoh golongan itu mungkin boleh diberi peluang bekerja sambilan untuk tempoh singkat antara dua atau tiga jam sehari seperti menjadi operator dan juruwang selepas waktu kerja di sektor awam.

Sementara itu, Noraini berkata program teras kementerian seperti Karnival Pekerjaan akan diteruskan walaupun Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi baru-baru ini mengumumkan beberapa langkah berjimat termasuk membekukan jawatan baru dalam perkhidmatan awam. - Bernama

Safety audit on public sector

The Star

JOHOR BARU: The Human Resources Ministry will conduct safety audits on all public sector work places soon to ensure they are safe working environments for workers in the sector.

Its minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam has ordered the ministry’s Health and Safety department to conduct the audit to ensure that all employers meet all safety requirements.

“Every field in the sector requires different safety requirements.

“For example, in the chemistry department, those who work in labs and even nurses in hospitals require specific safety requirements,” he said, adding that every employer has safety guidelines that need to be fulfilled.

Subramaniam was speaking to pressmen on Thursday after launching the Workers Day celebration hosted by Cuepacs and Customs officers Association here.

He also mentioned that he and other ministry officers would visit several estates nationwide to ensure that the welfare of foreign workers are taken care of.

“The visits, starting with the one in Johor, are aimed at spreading awareness on ensuring the welfare of foreign workers.

“The employers of the estates must buck up and provide all the necessary facilities for workers,” he said, adding that he would meet with the Malayan Agricultural Producers Association (Mapa) in two weeks to discuss the welfare of the foreign workers.

Subramaniam said the welfare problem among foreign workers was not serious in the country as the workers have their own rights that must be fulfilled by every employer.

Crackdown on agencies which ill-treat foreign workers

The Star

PETALING JAYA: The Labour Department is going all out to catch and charge employers and outsourcing companies which mistreat foreign workers.

Its enforcement director Khamis A. R. Majid said 300 officers had begun nationwide spot checks.

“This is a year of prosecution for such culprits. We have encountered a number of cases already and such cases must stop,” he said on Monday after delivering a paper at a seminar on ‘Developing Comprehensive Policy Framework for Migrant Labour’.

Khamis said outsourcing companies would be their main target given that many had promised jobs to foreign workers who ended up living in squalid conditions and had to endure frequent job changes that differed from their original offer.

He said no mercy would be shown to those who committed offences against foreign workers including non-payment or excessive deduction of wages and not providing them with insurance as required by law under the Foreign Workers Compensation Scheme.

There are about 200 outsourcing companies in the country. Cases against such companies and errant employers have been cropping up more often recently.

Khamis said, as at Dec 31 last year, Malaysia had a workforce of 11.46 million. Of this, 81.8% were local workers and some 2.04 million were foreign workers. This does not include illegal workers in the country, which was around 1.2 million.

The bulk of documented foreign workers came from Indonesia (1.15 million), followed by Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Vietnam and Myanmar.

“A total of 1,487 complaints were received from foreign workers over the last three years, of which 431 were for last year,” he said, adding Indonesian workers chalked up the highest number of complaints.

Big rush for positions in public sector

Graduates often lack skills for private sector, and govt jobs offer secure employment

By Carolyn Hong
The Straits Times

A RUSH of 30,000 people sent in applications when the Universiti Malaysia Kelantan put up notices for 110 vacancies recently.

'The sackfuls of applications could not fit into the post office and had to be put outside,' the university's vice-chancellor, Professor Zainai Mohamed, said.

These public-sector jobs are highly sought after. Nearly every job listed on the Public Service Commission website receives a mind-boggling number of applications.

For example, 17,484 applied for the 77 positions of assistant information technology officer. For jobs like nurses and technicians, it averages about 10,000 applications.

Ironically, at the same time, the private sector is struggling to fill thousands of vacancies.

Almost 840,000 vacancies were registered last year, according to figures from the Labour Department as cited by Human Resources Minister Fong Chan Onn.

In the first two months of this year, another 62,000 were added.

Yet few people want these jobs, said Datuk Seri Fong.

It is easy to see why.

Less than 5 per cent of these vacancies were for graduates. The bulk was for general workers, factory workers and sales assistants.

But most of the registered job seekers were looking for professional or technical jobs, or administrative positions.

No statistics are available from the private job agencies or private-sector employers, but there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that they find it difficult to get applicants with the desired qualities.

This mixed picture of large numbers queuing up for civil service positions while shunning low-end private-sector jobs is partly related to the phenomenon that received a lot of publicity last year - unemployed graduates.

At one time, there were as many as 60,000 graduates who could not find jobs, but the government has absorbed a large number of them.

There are various reasons why they were unemployed. Some wanted to remain in their home towns where there were no suitable jobs. But by and large, most lack the soft skills sought by the market. Their technical skills frequently also do not fit industry requirements.

'This is particularly noticeable in the information technology sector,' said Mr Shamsuddin Bardan, executive director of the Malaysian Employers Federation.

'There are jobs, in particular on the IT side. But the graduates' skills do not match requirements such as skills in software development,' he told The Straits Times.

Those who have these skills are grabbed quickly.

Malaysian Multimedia University president Gauth Jasmon was quoted in the New Straits Times daily as saying that their graduates secure jobs within six months of graduation.

And 30 per cent of them were snapped up even before their final exams.

Mr Shamsuddin said his organisation has made recommendations to tweak public-sector education for better job prospects.

'But it will take time to see a change in the public universities. The private universities are quicker to adapt,' he said.

In the meantime, graduates who are unable to find private-sector employment but do not want menial jobs are flocking to the public sector.

Besides, public- sector employment can be attractive as it offers job security.

Mr Shamsuddin said many private companies now only offer contract employment, and the lack of job security deters potential employees.