MAS wrong to yank support caregivers to MH370 crew’s families, union says

KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 — Malaysia Airlines’ (MAS) must re-establish its caregiver services to families of the crew from missing flight MH370 that it terminated when they sought legal counsel, said the National Union of Flight Attendants (Nufam) today.

Insisting that it is within the families’ rights to seek legal recourse, the union’s president Ismail Nasaruddin said the airline’s decision to terminate the support was unwarranted

“Their spouses are still employees of MAS. Week after week, these families are having to deal with so many issues,” he told The Malay Mail Online.

“It is in their rights to get lawyers, and they are not even talking about compensations yet. There is still no closure, so they must continue the services,” said Ismail.

In a hastily organised media conference yesterday, five families complained that MAS had instructed the caregivers assigned to the families of the 12 crew members on the missing Boeing 777 jetliner to stop all forms of communication.

The wife of MH370 in-flight supervisor Patrick Gomes, Jacquita Gonzales, 52, said that MAS had conveyed this in an official email sent on Friday, informing the families to direct all future correspondences through their legal advisers.

According to Jacquita, the seven of the crew’s next-of-kin had engaged in the services of Chicago-based firm Ribbeck Law for consultation and that it had nothing to do with the services given by the caregivers.

“Don’t just put us aside as if we don’t matter anymore just because we engaged a lawyer. It’s not fair,” Gonzales had said adding that the caregivers were the families’ “lifeline” to any information regarding the search for the missing plane.

Apart from furnishing information on the search mission, the caregivers also helped the families by assisting them with flight bookings, payments and travel arrangements.

Ismail said Nufam has communicate with the Transport Ministry and MAS to re-connect the families with their caregivers.

“What about other employees? How will they view this move by MAS? They must continue giving the families support,” he said.

He added that the union has arranged for a fundraiser on June 7 to help the families during the difficult period.

Flight MH370 vanished from civilian radars with 239 passengers and crew on March 8 on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

No physical trace of the aircraft has been found in what has become largest international search mission the world has seen in the history of modern aviation disasters.