Atlas Ice Group started its production of tube ice in 1989 with the setting up of Atlas Edible Ice Sdn. Bhd. with a one tonne per day tube ice making machine. The tube ice making division of The Atlas Ice Group has grown tremendously over the past 30 years. Today, this division has expanded into a network of 16 companies with more than 65 factories which covers the whole of East and West Malaysia.
The tube ice companies distributes and sells tube ice direct to the end users which covers a broad spectrum from hawkers and road side drinking stalls, coffee shops, food court centres, school and factory canteens, fast food restaurants, seafood, oriental and western cuisine, fine dining restaurants, bistros and cafes. The group also supplies ice to food processing and catering companies such as bakeries, convenience stores and supermarkets, hotels, pubs and discos, chicken slaughtering houses and meals caterers. In view of the sprawling network of its huge and diversified customer base, the group maintains a fleet of 1,500 lorries.
The company operates on a 24/7 basis to cater to the needs of its customers at all times and at all hours. To meet the increasing demand from the customers, the daily production capacities have increased from one tonne per day in 1990 to over 4,000 tonnes per day to date. The edible tube ice companies operations are supported by a team of more than 3,500 employees.
The company has been facing issues of Atlas Edible Ice employees complaining that employers have not made any contributions to ‘the Commission’ in 2005. Workers are convinced that millions of dollars have been intentionally laundered from employees’ EPF accounts.
“As long as we work with employers’ Atlas Ice is not contributing to the commission. We expect millions of dollars that should be in the accounts of Atlas employees throughout Malaysia to be fully aware of the employer.” Conversion from the term ‘commission / incentive’ to ‘profit sharing’
Prior to 2006, employers who printed ‘Commision or Incentive’ on pay slips had deliberately turned to ‘Profit Sharing’ without the knowledge of the employee to continue to deviate from the responsibility to contribute to the EPF for commission payments. But our nature of work is still the same, and employers have continued to deal with us to this day using the terms of commission.
This issue has been a bit of a disgrace to Atlas Edible’s company. This should not have happened since this company has been operating since 1989.