Rescind MAS-AirAsia deal or we’ll picket, unions warn

By G. Manimaran
Bahasa Malaysia Editor

October 01, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 1 — Upset that their grievances are being ignored, Malaysia’s airline workers have given their bosses two months to cancel the share swap deal or face protests in December.

Eight aviation workers’ unions made the decision today, insisting Malaysia Airline System’s (MAS) deal with AirAsia has affected the jobs of some 20,000 employees in the national carrier.

“We give Khazanah [Nasional] two months to cancel the deal and return to the original agreement. If not, we will go ahead with our picket, which we have decided will be in early December,” MAS employees’ union (Maseu) president Alias Aziz (picture) said today, referring to the federal government’s investment arm.

Alias told The Malaysian Insider that all eight workers’ groups want MAS to buy back the shares that have been sold to AirAsia while returning those bought from the budget carrier.

Besides Maseu, the other affected groups are the MAS Pilots’ Association; MAS Executive Staff Association; the Sabah Executive Union of MAS; the MAS Managers’ Association; the Airline Working Union of Sabah; the Airline Working Union of Sarawak; and the Sarawak Executive Staff Committee.

Alias said the groups decided in a meeting today they will urge the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) to boycott both airlines if the deal goes through allowing a new airline to emerge from their partnership.

It has been rumoured that 80 per cent of MAS staff could be moved to the new Sapphire airline as a result of the MAS-AirAsia deal.

MAS and AirAsia inked the deal on August 9, which allows the loss-making national carrier to swap a 20.5 per cent stake for 10 per cent in Asia’s top money-making budget flier.

The swap enabled AirAsia bosses Fernandes and Datuk Seri Kamaruddin Meranun to sit on the MAS board and ostensibly help turn its fortunes around.

The workers’ unions have accused the budget carrier’s ambitious boss of taking advantage of the loss-making national airline to fuel his personal ambitions, the latest being the acquisition of English Premier League club, Queens Park Rangers.

The national carrier will sponsor QPR’s home jersey for the next two seasons, while AirAsia’s logo will be emblazoned on the team’s away and third kits.

MAS had announced in August a net loss of RM527 million for the second quarter of 2011 due to higher fuel costs despite recording a better yield and a nine per cent growth in passenger revenue from the same period last year.

This brings total losses in the first half of the year to RM769 million even as the airline said that the profit outlook for the second half of the year appears bleak.

MAS had been doing well until the Asian financial crisis hit in 1998, which later led to its assets being sold off to resolve its balance sheets.