MAB doesn't recognise NUFAM, says minister after protest threat

KUALA LUMPUR, June 15 — Malaysia Airline Bhd (MAB) will not discuss employee terms with the National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia (NUFAM) as the carrier does not recognise the body, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said.

According to New Straits Times, Liow also pointed out that NUFAM president Ismail Nasaruddin was no longer even an employee with the airline, having been dismissed in 2013.

“Therefore, Malaysia Airlines does not have any locus standi to discuss terms with NUFAM. That is the information I got from the airline,” the minister was quoted saying in the English daily after an MCA event in Malacca.

“When Malaysia Airlines does not recognise the union, there is no other way for it to hold a discussion,” he continued, adding that MAB recognises seven unions but NUFAM was not among them.

MAB is the new legal entity of Malaysia Airline System (MAS) that terminated every employee under its payroll this month.

Liow said MAB has lodged a police report on NUFAM’s reported threat to stage a mass protest against the airline following its dismissal of over 6,000 staff in its ongoing restructuring process.

The minister also insisted that MAB had offered its employees good retrenchment packages with benefits that “are better than those offered by other companies”.

Last Tuesday, NUFAM said would give MAB 48 hours to comply with its request to retract the termination of the carrier’s 6,000 employees.

The carrier’s failure to do so will result in a massive “tools down” protest to take place at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, said Ismail.

NUFAM said later in the week, however, that it was yet to set a date for the protest.

NUFAM’s demands include the withdrawal of all termination letters from MAS, a renegotiation of terms with union bodies, and a guarantee that workers will be fairly compensated.

The union also wants to carrier to “re-employ all employees back and offer them Voluntary Separation Scheme instead of termination”.

MAS had on June 1 sent letters to the entire 20,000 MAS workforce, offering only two-thirds new jobs at the new entity, MAB.

The national carrier was delisted in August after sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd offered to buy out minority shareholders for a total of RM1.38 billion to restructure MAS.