KOTA KINABALU: The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) wants a meeting with the Sabah government to find a solution to the predicament faced by former paper and pulp mill workers from Sabah Forest Industries (SFI).
Some 30 former SFI workers staged a peaceful demonstration urging the state government to assist them outside the Sabah assembly here on Thursday (Aug 10).
Sabah MTUC secretary Engrit Liaw said he hoped the state government would be sensitive to the plight faced by the group who are claiming they are owed unpaid wages.
She said MTUC president Mohd Effendy Abdul Ghani had also on Aug 1 requested the Prime Minister to intervene.
The Sabah Timber Industry Employees Union (STIEU) also tried to reach out to the state government over the issue but efforts have been futile.
"The MTUC urges the government to afford an opportunity for the workers' union to explain the actual situation on the ground and find an amicable solution together," Liaw said in a statement on Friday (Aug 11).
During the demonstration on Thursday, group spokesman Jeffridin Baudi said they were appealing to the state government to reinstate water and electricity supply to the SFI workers' quarters in Sipitang, about 130km from here.
Jeffridin said the water and electricity supply have been cut since May 2 but 674 of them continued to stay at the quarters.
He added that a primary school was also affected, adding that electricity was needed to operate the pumps for the water treatment plant.
The group made their appeal outside the gate as they were not allowed in to pass a petition to Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.
An official from the Chief Minister's Department received the petition.
SFI ceased operations in 2016 and was officially wound up in November 2021.
The state government had in September 2021 cancelled SFI's timber licence and the state Land and Survey Department issued a reclamation notice for the estate last year.
