THIS is a video of hospital cleaner Tharani Kutty – trigger warning; there are multiple references to suicide.
She uses the name Logis, the name she was assigned at birth, in the video, as transpeople are sometimes compelled to in situations with legal implications.
Tharani works as a hospital cleaner for Edgenta UEMS. She is also a union leader who has actively and consistently advocated for the rights of her fellow hospital cleaners.
In the video, she describes the intimidation she has faced from Edgenta UEMS. She speaks of constant, relentless, “non-stop pressure”, which is causing her to have suicidal thoughts.
She also describes discrimination on the basis of her transgender identity. We strongly urge you to watch the video in full, or read the Twitter summary here.
One of Tharani’s most notable achievements was successfully suing Edgenta UEMS over the issue of overtime pay.
For reference, Tharani earns about RM920 a month. Tharani sued Edgenta UEMS because they refused to pay her RM1,211 in overtime. She won the suit, but Edgenta UEMS is appealing this decision.
Edgenta UEMS is owned by UEM Edgenta, which is ultimately owned by Khazanah Nasional Bhd, the government’s sovereign wealth fund.
Thus, people like Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz and Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin also share some of the responsibility for what Tharani is going through.
The managing director and CEO of UEM Edgenta is Syahrunizam Samsudin. Based on UEM Edgenta’s annual report released in 2019, which detailed the previous CEO’s income, the current chief executive’s monthly pay can be estimated to be in the region of RM143,461.
Background
Hospital cleaners used to be government employees. Some years ago, the cleaning of public hospitals was privatised.
The company that currently has the contract to clean public hospitals is Edgenta UEMS. Edgenta UEMS is owned by UEM Edgenta, which, in turn, is owned by the UEM Group, which – as mentioned earlier – is owned by Khazanah.
This privatisation exercise appears to have been the beginning of a number of problems for rank-and-file hospital cleaners.
At the time of writing, there have been 18 cases brought by hospital cleaners against Edgenta UEMS in the industrial court. Similar cases have been filed against other private hospital cleaning companies.
One such hospital cleaner is Tharani.
The case that she brought to the labour court involved working hours. Previously, Tharani worked eight-hour shifts, which included a one-hour break.
When Edgenta UEMS became Tharani’s employers, they unilaterally and without the agreement of workers changed Tharani’s working hours from an eight-hour shift to a nine-hour shift, including the same one-hour break – but with zero extra pay.
Tharani and her colleagues were made to work nine-hour shifts for exactly the same amount of money they were paid previously when working eight-hour shifts.
It is unlikely anyone – no matter how much money they make – would be content being forced to work an extra hour every single day for absolutely no extra pay.
It appears that the labour court ultimately shared Tharani’s view that this is unjust, and ordered Edgenta UEMS to pay her RM 1,211 in unpaid overtime wages.
Edgenta UEMS apparently did not take the view that Tharani should be paid this amount, and presumably to avoid doing so, decided to appeal this case in the Ipoh High Court to try and overturn the decision.
Underpaid hospital cleaners
There are various issues that require highlighting here, including questions concerning working conditions and the terms of employment for hospital cleaners, honest pay for honest work, and other matters that have been brought up by the union for hospital cleaners.
Tharani’s case allows us to focus on at least one of these issues.
Hospital cleaners are generally paid in the region of RM5.75 per hour for regular working hours, and RM8.65 for overtime.
This means an income of RM46 per day, and maybe about RM900 to RM1,000 per month, before any overtime.
The RM1,211 that Tharani is claiming is for seven months of overtime, amounting to RM8.65 per day, or RM173 a month.
Now, let’s try and get a sense of the income of the people ultimately responsible for decisions that affect those like Tharani.
Let’s look at some publicly available information regarding CEO incomes. Given public holidays and so on, we will assume 20 working days a month, just for ease of calculation.
We were not able to find relevant information for Edgenta UEMS, but we were able to look at the annual report of its parent company, UEM Edgenta.
Immense income gap
UEM Edgenta’s annual report for 2019 provides information regarding the income of the then CEO. We were not able to find data regarding the income of the current CEO, so we must note that this is only a comparison meant to be used as a reference.
In 2019, the CEO of UEM Edgenta was listed as having an annual salary of RM996,000, with an annual bonus of RM471,000.
Annual contribution to defined contribution plans was RM219,000; annual allowances were RM140,000; annual benefits in kind were RM 39,000. This makes for a grand total of RM1,865,000 in annual income.
Let us compare the income of the UEM Edgenta CEO in 2019, the politicians responsible for corporations like UEM Edgenta and its subsidiaries, and a hospital cleaner working for its subsidiary, Edgenta UEMS.
At an annual income of RM1,865,000, an individual is earning about RM900 per hour, RM7,173 per day, and RM143,461 per month.
The hospital cleaner, meanwhile, is earning RM5.75 per hour, RM46 per day, and maybe RM920 a month.
We do not really know what it is the former individuals do to deserve their salaries.
We do know that hospital cleaners do hard labour, day in and day out, putting themselves at risk on the front lines of the fight against Covid-19, to keep our hospitals running, and the rest of us safe.
Taking responsibility
The general manager of Edgenta UEMS as of October 2020 was Ramlan Khamis. The managing director and CEO of UEM Edgenta is Syahrunizam. The managing director of the UEM Group is Datuk Mohd Izani Ghani. The managing director of Khazanah is Datuk Shahril Ridza Ridzuan. Tengku Zafrul is a director on the Khazanah board, while the chairman of Khazanah is the prime minister himself, Muhyiddin.
Presumably, these men – there appear to be no women on the list – can influence their subordinates and corporate policies all the way down, including sending instructions to withdraw Edgenta UEMS’ appeal against the labour court’s decision and pay Tharani her RM1,211.
Any of these people can also drive the effort to ensure better working conditions, better terms of employment, and more equitable pay for their staff.
Based on publicly available information, none of them has decided to do so yet. We hope at least one of them will.
We also hope that the fact that Edgenta UEMS is having so many more problems with its workers and union as compared to similar companies in similar industries is duly noted.
As far as the government is concerned, we hope that the Health Ministry lives up to its promise to facilitate a discussion between Edgenta UEMS and the union. This would be seen as a positive contribution from Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba.
The importance of compassion
In the interests of transparency, we appreciate that senior officers responsible for Edgenta UEMS’ business did reach out to us in an effort to open a dialogue, which was initiated in a letter to Nathaniel Tan.
We had a civil conversation and the candid sharing of perspectives, and we shared our view that Edgenta UEMS would benefit greatly, firstly from opening a similar dialogue with the workers’ union in order to resolve the issues at hand, and secondly, by paying their cleaners the same amount of money for the same daily working hours as before.
In the interests of a right to reply, we are happy to publish on our personal social media accounts the letter originally addressed to Tan – or any subsequent letter – which details their position on some of the matters raised above, if this is what UEM Edgenta wishes. We do not want to presume that UEM Edgenta wishes to make the contents of the letter public, but are happy to accommodate if that is what they so desire.
In conclusion, we reiterate our hopes that the decision-makers involved in this controversy will be wise and compassionate, especially given that now, it is not only livelihoods, but lives as well, that are at stake.
Everyone’s career goals and rice bowls are important, but we should not advance our own goals or focus on our financial bottom lines so much at the expense of others – especially when those others make so much less than us, and are so much more vulnerable. – The Vibes, April 25, 2021
Meera Samanther is vice-president of the Association of Women Lawyers, and Nathaniel Tan is strategic communications consultant at Projek Wawasan Rakyat
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