NEEDING HELP: Former Sanmina-Sci workers queuing up to register for the eKasih programme.
KUCHING: Retrenched workers from Sanmina-Sci Corporation (M) Sdn Bhd yesterday received immediate assistance from the State Welfare Department to lighten their financial burden while finding other employment.
They received RM300 while their families received a one-off payment of RM500 for their children’s school needs. They also received food baskets from the dept.
Welfare, Women and Family Development Minister Datuk Fatimah Abdullah said the assistance was the most immediate and holistic form of help the government could offer and advised the retrenched workers to seek permanent employment, especially if they had school-going children.
She was speaking at a meet-and-greet gathering with the laid-off workers at Wisma Kebajikan yesterday, where those who qualified could also register for welfare assistance of RM300 per month and the eKasih programme.
She also advised those with families to register for the ministry’s Children Assistance Scheme to ensure that their children’s education was not interrupted.
“We found that some of these ex-workers have between three and seven school-going children,” she said.
Out of the list of 634 former employees given to JKM, 335 of them earned between RM400 and RM850 and received compensation from as low as RM170 to RM7,000.
Also present at the gathering were State Welfare Department director Noriah Ahmad, the ministry’s permanent secretary Rodziah Morshidi and head of the retrenched workers action committee James Jalai Gayau.