AWARD

Augustine Anthony:

[1] The parties in this matter filed their respective written submissions dated 26 March 2021 (Union's Skeletal Submissions), 29 March 2021 (Company's Written Submission), 8 April 2021 (Union's Submissions in Reply) and 12 April 2021 (Company's Written Submissions in Reply).

[2] This court considered all the notes of proceedings in this matter, documents and the cause papers in handing down this award namely:

(i) The Union's Statement of Case dated 5 August 2020;

(ii) The Company's Statement in Reply dated 24 August 2020;

(iii) The Union's Rejoinder dated 4 September 2020;

(iv) The Union's Bundle of Documents - UB; and

(v) The Union's Witness Statement - UW-WS .

Introduction

[3] The union represents 39 former employees of the company and these employees had served the company for a period of 6 to 28 years. There is no dispute that there was closure of the company in December 2017. As a consequence of the closure of the company, the company made payments in the form of retrenchment benefits to all the 39 former employees of the company totalling a sum of RM1,181,181.00. The union being dissatisfied with the payments made to the 39 former employees is now claiming an a