WFH order causes confusion among workers, management — MTUC

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KUALA LUMPUR: Selangor and Federal Territories division of the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) called on the government to provide clear instructions on the standard operating procedures (SOP) for the work-from-home (WFH) order to the workers and management in the private sector.

Its secretary, Mohd Faisal Husin, said the announcement had many glaring weaknesses and the instruction that managerial and supervisory staff must work from home and later amended to only 10 per cent of them need to do so is both vague and difficult to follow.

“It is time the National Security Council (MKN) and the ministers involved get their act together. They must stick to one set of SOP and issue them without going back and forth.

“While we can understand the rationale for the WFH order under the circumstances, the nett effect of this policy appears to be that the health and lives of managers and supervisors are more important than that of other staff,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Mohd Faisal said it was also obvious that the government had failed to consult the stakeholders before coming up with the regulation.

The government announced yesterday that a maximum of 10 per cent of workers in management and supervisory roles in the private sector are allowed to work at the office during the CMCO in Selangor, Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur and Sabah in a move to break the pandemic chain.

Meanwhile, the Alliance for Safe Community chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye also questioned why only a certain segment of the population was allowed to work from the offices while others have to work from home.

“Where is the rationality of these SOP? Either everybody stays at home, or everybody goes back to work. The virus is no respecter of persons or locations or time of day.

“Make no mistake, the people are not against restrictive SOP, but they would like more consistency and rationality in the formulation, implementation and duration of the procedures.

“Yes, tough situations call for tough measures. It follows that clarity and consistency will go a long way to assuage the temporary suspension of civil liberties for the common good,” he said, adding that this will make the current SOP and subsequent ones more acceptable and palatable. — Bernama