SUBANG JAYA, June 2 — A union representing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) employees condemned today the new company handling the flag carrier’s massive restructuring exercise which they described as unjust.
National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia (Nufam) president Ismail Nasaruddin told a news conference here today their biggest gripe was the company’s failure to consult it before sending out the severance packages and new employment letters to some 6,000 staff yesterday.
“They simply bypassed us by doing this without our knowledge and even without the employees’ knowledge,” he said.
Topping the union’s chief complaints were the unequal reemployment terms and conditions offered, which Nufam alleged differed from individual and was now causing “animosity” among the employees.
“We’re saying termination package should be equal, should it be not?” he said.
He also voiced disgruntlement over the sacking of some long-serving cabin crew including those currently on maternity leave, claiming such actions to be unjustified.
“Number one point to highlight, there are single mothers who were not reappointed and they have been given termination without reappointed. This is an injustice for long-serving crew, a few who are undergoing maternity also got termination.
“They know the crew are on maternity, why can’t they wait for the time and do the right thing before asking the crew member?” he said.
Even those recovering from injuries inflicted on the job were not spared the axe, Ismail added.
“We also have medical cases where crew who were inflicted during their time with MAS have also been terminated... instantly they were asked to leave airline immediately.
“You must look at it from a broad perspective, they are suffering from various types of conditions, MAS should let them recover first,” he said.
Ismail also warned of flight attendants and pilots having to work under immense stress should they be served a termination notices, which could result in them working in an unsound state-of-mind.
“Why must MAS put this pressure on these people? There should be a cooling period for them to deal with the pressure they are facing.
“Do you know what can happen to a pilot or engineer who has been served a termination? I don’t need to say it out,” he said, alluding to the possibility of staff becoming disgruntled and affecting customers’ experience.
MAS yesterday served all its 20,000 employees termination notices effective June 1, but offered 14,000 reemployment under new contracts.
This was the airline’s last ditch attempt of getting the company back in the black after its new chief executive Christoph Mueller said yesterday that MAS was “technically bankrupt.”
News wire Reuters reported yesterday that the carrier said its new legal entity is Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAB), replacing the previous Malaysian Airline System Bhd (MAS), with Mueller promising to unveil a full corporate rebranding in the future.
The national carrier was delisted in August after sovereign wealth fund Khazanah offered to buy out minority shareholders for a total of RM1.38 billion to restructure MAS, which suffered two air disasters last year.
