Employer of stranded Bangladeshi workers summoned by ministry

 

Bangladesh high commissioner Golam Sarwar (centre, with glasses) said the company that had hired the workers had ignored calls from his office.

PETALING JAYA: The firm that left a group of Bangladeshi workers in the lurch after their arrival four months ago has been summoned by the human resources ministry, the Bangladesh High Commission said.

The ministry wants the employer, whose name is on the work visas provided to the workers, to explain why they have not secured jobs, high commissioner Golam Sarwar said.

Golam claimed that the company was reluctant to cooperate with the high commission and ignored their calls to resolve the issue.

“But after we took the matter up with the human resources ministry, the employer is now cooperating. The labour department has reportedly called the employer for a meeting tomorrow.

-ADVERTISEMENT-

Ads by 

“We have been assured by the department officials that the workers will be employed by a new firm based in Johor Bahru. We are following up closely with all concerned parties and are hopeful that the issue will be resolved soon,” he told FMT.

FMT is withholding the name of the employer pending a response.

Golam was responding to a report by FMT earlier today that 35 Bangladeshi workers who had been here since December had not been given jobs as promised by the recruitment agents.

On April 11, the workers said they were sent to a factory in Johor Bahru by the high commission but the bus they were travelling in was told to turn back two hours into the journey, dashing their hopes of being employed.

The workers said they were then placed in a dormitory in Subang which had only one toilet.

They were part of a larger group that was left stranded after they travelled to Penang in December to work, only to be left without jobs. - FMT