Let's see, those affected are Sporns while FTrash continue to benefit from the national reserve funded Job Credit Scam?
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Seksun 'lays off more than 20 workers'
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Some claim severance deal they received is short of industry norm </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Linette Lai & Joanna Seow
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Workers leaving Seksun's premises in Yishun yesterday. Some of the employees reportedly laid off at the plant claimed they were eligible for a larger severance package. Seksun has declined to comment on the allegation. -- ST PHOTO: JOANNA SEOW
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->HIGH-PRECISION metal component maker Seksun International has laid off more than 20 workers at its Yishun plant, according to both some of the retrenched workers and another source.
Some of those retrenched are unhappy at what they allege is a severance deal that falls short of the industry norm.
The Straits Times understands it is the third round of retrenchments in two months for the company.
Seksun was sold a year or so ago by businessman Felix Ong for $295.1 million to a foreign fund, Supernova (Cayman).
Seksun declined to comment. It is believed the plant employs about 400 staff.
Most of those retrenched were in operator and technician positions.
Some workers alleged they received a severance package of one week's pay for each year of service, plus a month's pay, to compensate for the short notice.
The Straits Times understands that members of the Metal Industries Workers' Union (MIWU) are eligible for an extra two weeks of pay.
Some of the workers said they were upset at the overall payout, which they claimed was below the industry norm.
'I am dissatisfied with the severance pay,' one retrenched worker who asked to be known only as Mr Chen, 38, said in Mandarin. The Chinese national was a technician who had been with Seksun for five years.
He said that MIWU could have done more. The union could not be reached, but an NTUC spokesman said it understood from MIWU that the negotiations were confidential.
Mr Ong, Seksun's previous owner, said retrenchments seem to be the norm in this financial climate. 'If you want to survive, you have to reduce (costs) to the minimum.'
MP Halimah Yacob, deputy secretary-general of NTUC, said that companies typically offer retrenched workers a severance pay of between two weeks and a month's pay for each year of service.
'But it depends on the financial situation of the company,' she added. If the company is incurring heavy losses, she said that ' might justify a lower quantum'.
A Ministry of Manpower spokesman said: 'We don't have any guidelines. Employees' benefits are up to the company's discretion, depending on their financial position.'
Retrenched quality inspector Anand Rai, 29, said Seksun had told them that with the bad financial conditions, it could no longer manage so many workers.
'Previously, when the company was doing well, everyone had overtime work. The company was running 24 hours a day.' Now, some departments run only two shifts daily and none at all on weekends, said Mr Rai, who is from India.
One comfort for him is that the company will be covering the airfare home for all its foreign workers.
[email protected] [email protected]
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Seksun 'lays off more than 20 workers'
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Some claim severance deal they received is short of industry norm </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Linette Lai & Joanna Seow
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
Workers leaving Seksun's premises in Yishun yesterday. Some of the employees reportedly laid off at the plant claimed they were eligible for a larger severance package. Seksun has declined to comment on the allegation. -- ST PHOTO: JOANNA SEOW
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->HIGH-PRECISION metal component maker Seksun International has laid off more than 20 workers at its Yishun plant, according to both some of the retrenched workers and another source.
Some of those retrenched are unhappy at what they allege is a severance deal that falls short of the industry norm.
The Straits Times understands it is the third round of retrenchments in two months for the company.
Seksun was sold a year or so ago by businessman Felix Ong for $295.1 million to a foreign fund, Supernova (Cayman).
Seksun declined to comment. It is believed the plant employs about 400 staff.
Most of those retrenched were in operator and technician positions.
Some workers alleged they received a severance package of one week's pay for each year of service, plus a month's pay, to compensate for the short notice.
The Straits Times understands that members of the Metal Industries Workers' Union (MIWU) are eligible for an extra two weeks of pay.
Some of the workers said they were upset at the overall payout, which they claimed was below the industry norm.
'I am dissatisfied with the severance pay,' one retrenched worker who asked to be known only as Mr Chen, 38, said in Mandarin. The Chinese national was a technician who had been with Seksun for five years.
He said that MIWU could have done more. The union could not be reached, but an NTUC spokesman said it understood from MIWU that the negotiations were confidential.
Mr Ong, Seksun's previous owner, said retrenchments seem to be the norm in this financial climate. 'If you want to survive, you have to reduce (costs) to the minimum.'
MP Halimah Yacob, deputy secretary-general of NTUC, said that companies typically offer retrenched workers a severance pay of between two weeks and a month's pay for each year of service.
'But it depends on the financial situation of the company,' she added. If the company is incurring heavy losses, she said that ' might justify a lower quantum'.
A Ministry of Manpower spokesman said: 'We don't have any guidelines. Employees' benefits are up to the company's discretion, depending on their financial position.'
Retrenched quality inspector Anand Rai, 29, said Seksun had told them that with the bad financial conditions, it could no longer manage so many workers.
'Previously, when the company was doing well, everyone had overtime work. The company was running 24 hours a day.' Now, some departments run only two shifts daily and none at all on weekends, said Mr Rai, who is from India.
One comfort for him is that the company will be covering the airfare home for all its foreign workers.
[email protected] [email protected]
