Yakub (third left) together with the staff of KKIP Aerospace Training Centre.
SEPANGGAR: The Gabungan Rakyat Sabah-led government has reiterated its promise to resolve the wage woes of the University College Sabah Foundation (UCSF) staff.
State Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Yakub Khan said that the matter had been brought up in the state cabinet.
“God willing, this will be solved very soon. We have discussed the matter in the state cabinet,” he told reporters during his visit to the KKIP Aerospace Training Centre, here on Tuesday.
When pressed for a specific date, Yakub said that the matter would be resolved before the Hari Raya celebration.
The wages of 146 UCSF staff were cut by 50 per cent, as part of the institution’s cost-cutting scheme, which was introduced by its vice-chancellor Mohamed Haleem Mohamad Razi.
On April 21, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor vowed that he would be looking into the issue and that he would be summoning UCSF’s management to seek explanation behind the pay cut.
In June last year, former Chief Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal had ordered a revamp of the UCSF management following its move to cut staff salaries and reduce working hours.
Separately, Yakub opined that the KKIP Aerospace Training Centre has high potential and that it could be used as a platform to expose Sabahans to the aerospace industry.
It is understood that the centre is set to be the top aerospace nation in Southeast Asia under the Malaysian Aerospace Industry Blueprint.
The centre will be the first approved aircraft maintenance training centre in Malaysia that has dual approval – the first being the local Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM), as well as an international endorsement under the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Part 147 to conduct Category A1 Aircraft Maintenance Technician training.
Graduates of KKIP Aerospace Training Centre will be equipped with comprehensive skills, which will be spaced out into twelve (12) modules.