MAS denies mass transfer of staff to short-haul unit

By Yow Hong Chieh

March 23, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, March 23 — Loss-making Malaysia Airlines (MAS) denied today claims by an in-house union that it was forcing employees to quit in order to “bulk transfer” staff to a new sister airline.

The flag carrier said the MAS Employees Union’s (Maseu) allegations were “inaccurate” and “misleading” as applications to the still-unnamed short-haul service were completely voluntary.

“Short-listed candidates will then be invited for a formal interview. Successful candidates will be offered employment under terms and conditions of the new airline, including salaries and benefits.

“Upon accepting the offer from the new airline, successful candidates will then be required to tender their resignation to Malaysia Airlines,” MAS said in a statement.

It added that over 850 MAS employees had applied to join the new regional off-shoot within a week of an internal notification for a broad variety of positions.

MAS added that it remained committed to engaging with stakeholders, including employees and unions, to realise the national carrier’s new business plan and make MAS a better place to work.

Maseu secretary-general Abdul Malek Ariff said earlier this week the prime minister had mooted the MAS-AirAsia share swap but not management decisions, such as proposed cuts to salaries and benefits.

The share swap and accompanying collaboration with AirAsia unveiled last August was supposed to help put MAS, which recently posted its biggest ever annual loss, back on firmer financial footing.

The idea was to have some of the business acumen that took AirAsia from a two-plane outfit to Asia’s largest budget airline in just 10 years rub off on the flag carrier.

Following the share swap, the management team led by new managing director Ahmad Jauhari Yahya put together a business turnaround plan in December to help propel MAS back to profitability.

The management’s efforts to restructure the airline and put it a more competitive position, however, have caused friction with the unions and employees associations.

The Malaysian Insider reported on March 16 that Putrajaya is mulling a special entity to take MAS off the hands of its main shareholders if the Najib administration caves in to unions and unravels the share swap.

It is understood Khazanah may divest its stake in MAS before a general offer is made for the remaining shares, including those owned by Tune Air, AirAsia co-founder Tan Sri Tony Fernandes’s holding company.