BUTTERWORTH – Major retrenchments and closures may begin from next month unless hotels get the necessary support from the government and tourism authorities in terms of wages and subsidies, a leading hotelier here warned.
The Malaysian Association of Hotels’ (MAH) Penang chapter chairman Raj Kumar said that, with the wage subsidy scheme ending later next week, many hoteliers will encounter difficulties retaining staffers, and may opt for a temporary or permanent closure.
This is especially as business has suffered under the full movement control order (MCO) 3.0.
“It is looking bleak from next month. Presently, some owners and management can absorb the losses, but it will get worse if nothing is done from next month.”
In Penang, four prominent hotels have temporarily or permanently closed since last March, namely the Equatorial Hotel (which has since reinvented itself as a vaccination centre), the Holiday Inn, the Jerejak Rainforest Resort and the Jazz Hotel.
Up to 1,000 workers are believed to have been affected by the closures.
For now, 95% of other hotels have maintained their operations either by reducing working hours, temporarily closing and reinventing their services for food deliveries or take out, while some have imposed salary reductions or retrenched staffers.
Raj said that hoteliers would prefer if there are clearer signs on when the tourism sector can be reopened.
Yesterday, Penang PKR had in a statement urged the National Security Council to allow a more relaxed form of the lockdown as MCO 3.0 is suffocating the local economy.
Meanwhile, an executive chef of an international chain hotel near Batu Ferringhi has accused its management of exploiting its workers during the MCO by not paying them their dues or terminating them on grounds of poor business or bad job performance.
The chef, who preferred not to be named, said he has filed a grievance suit with the Industrial Relations Department, citing it is inhumane to let go of staffers during the height of a worldwide health crisis.
“It is one thing dealing with the pandemic, but what is disheartening is finding fault with staffers during unprecedented times, like now. We are just looking out for each other.”
Staffers at two other hotels have also filed similar grievances with the labour authorities against hotel owners for not abiding by labour regulations when they terminated staffers.
Meanwhile, state exco member Yeoh Soon Hin, who oversees the tourism portfolio, urged hotels to temporarily offer their properties as vaccination centres to offset the huge losses they are incurring. – The Vibes, June 25, 2021
