Image credit: New Straits Times
KUALA LUMPUR: The government has been urged to roll out assistance immediately to help people from the B40 and M40 groups as well as medium-sized enterprises (SME) whose income are affected by the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO) and health emergency declaration.
The National Union of the Bank Employees (NUBE) in a statement today proposed the government to rope in giant industries in providing aid to the affected groups.
NUBE secretary-general J.Solomon said the government can do so by advising Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah to issue such an order to the industry giants in the spirit of "saving humanity".
"The government should advise the King to order these industry giants who have been securing billions in profit to donate toward this aid to enable the government to assist the B40, M40 and SMEs.
"In the banking sector, we have many customers who are in a dire state of affairs.
"This must be done in a transparent and fair manner. Those who have must now contribute to help those who don't have in the spirit of saving humanity," read the statement.
The union said the priority for the government now is to ensure no Malaysian is left out during this challenging period brought about by the global Covid-19 pandemic.
Quick cash aid, said NUBE, must be given out immediately since those from the B40 income group are severely affected and vulnerable during these difficult times.
"Many self-employed and low-income workers from the B40 category who are paid daily will be in dire straits.
"During the first MCO, some of the stimulus packages were not executed fairly to the target group.
"This should not be the case as the government has enough reserves to ensure aid reaches the groups that deserve it, as soon as possible and it should be not seen to enrich anyone in authority."
NUBE also urged the government to issue a strong warning supported with the necessary legislations that require employers to keep their workers and not use the MCO to further reduce their workforce.
"In this context, SMEs must also be given aid but only to the smaller ones to keep their businesses going.
"There will be many institutions like certain irresponsible banks which will take advantage to retrench workers by asking them to work from home first, slowly making them redundant by outsourcing their functions.
"We are seeing it happen now during the first MCO," the union said.
Source: https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2021/01/656921/nube-help-b40-m40-smes-get-industry-giants-lend-hand