KUCHING: The state government is urged to look into the issue of unemployment among locals instead of allowing foreign workers to fill up jobs.
Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) Sarawak secretary Andrew Lo said at a time when thousands of Sarawakians had lost their jobs, the state government was more interested in allowing foreign workers into the state.
“From the Covid-19 data, foreign workers are the high risk group and bringing them in would direct the risk to us,” he told New Sarawak Tribune yesterday.
He further mentioned that the state government should take this opportunity to reduce dependency on foreign workers, while adding that most Indonesian workers are in the oil palm plantation and timber industries.
On Wednesday, Sarawak Disaster Management Committee chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas announced that Sarawak would allow Indonesian workers into the state, provided that their employers paid for the cost of their quarantine and Covid-19 screening test.
