Instead, he said the oil giant should examine other strategies, such as reducing dividends or other operational and management expenses to cope with the slump in global prices.

“MTUC regrets that the Petronas president and group CEO is giving priority to fulfil its dividend commitment to shareholders rather than his staff.

“Although the shareholders bring in investment, the revenue is generated by the staff or workforce,” he said, adding the Petronas management should not treat its workers as mere commodities.

Gopal said in facing the current economic slump, employers and organisations should not take the easy way out by trimming their workforce.

Meanwhile, Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) Secretary-General Sivarajan Arumugam called on the government to start a retrenchment fund to ensure the 1,000 workers would be protected fully.

“Whenever an economic crisis hits, it is the workers who become victims.

“The retrenchment fund will ensure workers receive a temporary monthly allowance until they get a new job.”

Yesterday, Petronas announced the start of its group-wide transformation which could result in nearly 1,000 positions becoming redundant.

Petronas said the transformation was geared towards making it “more resilient and focused to thrive, both in the current and future industry landscapes”.