PETALING JAYA: The Government Contract Workers’ Network (JPKK) has urged the education ministry to intervene over delayed wages for security guards.
In a Facebook post, JPKK said 38 security guards working at several schools, teachers’ quarters and student dormitories under the education ministry in Perlis had been living without pay by their employers, Wira Corps Security (M) Sdn Bhd, for the past two months.
“The security guards who work under Wira Corps Security are stationed at 10 premises under the education ministry around Chuping and Arau in Perlis.
“These security guards have been facing the problem of late wages from their employers since July 2021. They only received salaries for July 2021 on Sept 24, while the salaries for August and September have not been received to date,” it said.
JPKK said in a notice issued on Oct 7, the employer had promised that all salaries for August and September would be paid on Oct 15, however, the promise was not kept as another notice was issued which promised Oct 22 as the payment date.
“The company which hires these security guards gets a contract for security services from the education ministry. It is paid directly by the government.
“Security services at government premises are not a type of business that will be affected by market fluctuations in the economy. Therefore, it is unreasonable for the company to be late in paying salaries to its employees except if there are any late payments from the education ministry.
“We request the education ministry to take immediate action to ensure that Wira Corps Security pays all salary arrears to its employees soon,” it said.
Meanwhile, Wira Corps Security assistant general manager Ibrahim Binagoor told FMT that the Perlis security guards were not the only ones who were not getting paid. A total of 257 security guards and even staff working at the headquarters, including him, had not been paid for the past two months, he added.
Ibrahim said the company’s rolling capital had “finished” as payments for work done for the education ministry in a few places had yet to be received.
“We are trying our very best to get money from the bank to pay our employees and also chase for payments. We just need more time. The banks can’t just loan us the money immediately.
“It’s not that we deliberately do not want to pay our workers. We definitely want to ensure they get their payments. The company is trying its best to fix this issue,” he said.