PUTRAJAYA: The government will allow for employers to opt to transfer quotas to other employers in sectors facing shortages of foreign workers.
In a joint press conference with Human Resources Minister Steven Sim, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said this was because some sectors were facing a deficit of foreign workers.This includes the plantations and agriculture sectors.
"The joint committee is aimed at solving issues (of foreign worker shortages). That's why we're allowing for workers to change employers."This means that when one sector is full, they can opt to transfer (the quotas and workers) to other sectors," he said.
Saifuddin Nasution said he had met with Plantations and Commodities Minister Datuk Seri Johari Ghani earlier today to have a clearer view on the matter. "We have 442,000 hectares of rubber plantations and we are the net importers, importing about 700,000 metric tonnes for gloves and condoms manufacturing.
"We also have about 5.4 million hectares of palm oil estates. In the plantation sectors, 30 per cent of the workers are harvester and they need to harvest every two weeks."When we calculate the two million workers, these two sectors are facing a large deficit," he said at Kompleks Setia Perkasa, here, today.
On another matter, Saifuddin said the ministries would propose to reimplement the recalibration programme which is aimed to send workers who have overstayed to their home countries. He said this is however subject to Cabinet approval.
"We will propose a date to the Cabinet (for the programme), of course they (foreigners who overstayed) will be subject to compounds and so on. We will look into the matter depending on the application process we receive."This decision is also made after receiving feedback from the embassies who requested for space to send the workers back home," he said.