DON'T TAKE IT OUT ON US! MAS problems due to bad management, not staff - union

KUALA LUMPUR - National Union of Flight Attendants (Nufam) president Ismail Nasaruddin has urged Khazanah Nasional Bhd (Khazanah) to ditch its plans to retrench 6,000 Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAS NewCo) staff.

He said there were many other internal issues that had not been resolved yet and retrenching 6,000 staff was not the answer.

“Yesterday, MAS had decided to pull back the proposal to send out the retrenchment letters to the 6,000, which had clearly violated the trade regulations.

“Maybe MAS had slowed down, but NUFAM will not be silent and refer the issue to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak,” he said when contacted by The Rakyat Post.

He said there were many other issues that should be resolved first.

“For example, MAS should look at issues like where did the millions of ringgit go to and the fact that their books have not been audited yet.

“These problems have been created by the same people and MAS would not resolve its problems by asking Khazanah for help as it was the cause of the company’s destruction over the last 15 years.”

Ismail said since MAS was taken over by Khazanah, the company seemed to be like not functioning anymore, and was in an uncertain economic situation.

“In the current economic slowdown, would it be fair to sack 6,000 of its staff when MAS’ problems were caused by MAS itself.

Ismail Nasaruddin

“They are the ones that deserved to be sacked. Why hasn’t the government heard the voices of these workers who are now in trouble. They all earn RM9 to RM10 an hour, which is below minimum wage when compared to other international airline companies who pay around RM25 an hour, like AirAsia and Malindo Air.”

Talking about the new MAS NewCo CEO Christoph Mueller, who assumes duty on May 1, Ismail said NUFAM for a long time had supported the idea of replacing the position with a “new face”.

He said many Malays were qualified for the position, but suggestions of some names were not considered.

“We believe that the new CEO will be smart enough to handle the problems at hand.” -http://www.therakyatpost.com/