PETALING JAYA: Employers are not using IR4.0 as a back door to introduce new technology, Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) executive director Datuk Shamsudin Baradan said.
Shamsudin said employers had no choice but to introduce new technology to meet the changing environment or they would be left behind.
However, he said, the government needed to provide incentives to employers to adopt new technology.
“There are some 350,000 small and medium scale companies that employ five or less workers and it is very unlikely they will invest in new technology unless they get some kind of incentive.
“Everyone, the government, employers and workers have not done enough to prepare for IR4.0 because they feel everything will be fine.”
Shamsudin said workers needed to change and learn new things and they must be able to multi-skill and multi-task.
He said IR4.0 was not going to be easy and everyone had a responsibility to make it a success.
Meanwhile, Malaysian Trades Union Council secretary general J. Solomon said the government was listening to employers who wanted to bring in new technologies while reducing their workforce.
He added this was one of the means by which companies could boost profits.
He said those who would be affected are mainly local and not foreign workers.
“There are 600,000 unemployed local workers while the foreign workforce is some six million.
“The government should look at how it can help local workers. They should prepare these workers by training them to deal with new technologies while at the same time, work on reducing the foreign workforce.”
He added the government was caught in a bind as government-linked companies were very keen on bringing in new technology.
He said if GLCs carried on this path, more and more workers would lose their jobs.
He said ministers should stop harping on jobs that are going to be lost because of IR4.0, and instead concentrate on their obligations to workers.
Solomon claimed there was a huge disconnect between workers, employers and the government when it comes to IR 4.0.
He said IR4.0 is just another phase that workers will have to go through but they must be prepared to face it.
“The government is trying to push it down the throats of workers without making sure they are ready for it. IR4.0 is not new, it did not suddenly appear out of the blue, and the government should take proactive measures to prepare workers.”
