Heaptalk, Jakarta — Union workers representing Singapore’s Lazada claimed that his party was not notified to discuss the company’s workforce termination move, which caused disappointment for the labor union.
“The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and our affiliated union, Food Drinks and Allied Workers Union (FDAWU), are disappointed that the company has initiated a retrenchment exercise without notifying and consulting FDAWU, given that Lazada is unionized under FDAWU,” NTUC said, cited in News Asia Channel.
Furthermore, FDAWU has sent a letter to Lazada to express their exception regarding Lazada’s sudden determination to cut its employees, whereby this case is claimed to have been escalated to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).
According to NTUC, termination of employment should be a company’s last determination, and to take this step, they must comply with the guiding principles contained in NTUC’s fair retrenchment framework. Moreover, the companies carrying out layoffs must ensure openness, transparency, and consultation with trade unions and workers.
“NTUC would like to reiterate that companies must work with their union to ensure that they work together with their unions to ensure a fair and equitable process is carried out to protect the interests of all workers, especially Singaporean core,” said NTUC.
Last January 3rd, Lazada announced that the company terminated several employees. However, the company spokesman declined to disclose how many workers in Singapore or Southeast Asia were affected and whether the laid-off employees had received a severance package.
“We conducted proactive adjustments to transform our workforce to a better position in a more agile and efficient way of working to meet future business requisites,” Lazada’s spokesperson revealed.
Over the past several years, the company’s representative admitted Lazada has continually evolved to ensure the team maintains a sustainable business growth model. This job-cutting move obliged this e-commerce company to reassess its employee necessities and operational structure, expecting to be better positioned to future-proof business and its resources.
Lazada is claimed to be the main competitor of a fellow e-commerce platform based in Singapore, Shopee. As is known, these latest layoffs come amid speculation regarding AIDC’s potential initial public offering in the United States in 2024.
On the other hand, Lazada’s latest wave of layoffs is also part of the impact of TikTok’s aggressiveness in the Southeast Asian market, one of which is injecting the GoTo technology ecosystem worth US$ 1.5 billion, whereby this strategic affiliation would be estimated to become larger entities.
