About 100 Utusan Malaysia staff and former staff today held a picket outside the Malay daily's headquarters to demand their salaries and severance instalments owed for the last three months.
Chants of "Mana gaji kami?" (Where are our salaries?) were heard loud and clear.
Their main demand was for an immediate settlement of their owed dues for the last three months.
A graphic designer for Utusan since the last 23 years, Nik Mohamad Hasmazi Hassan said it was almost unthinkable that they were now forced to borrow money just in order to come to work.
"I have gone through so much but it has never reached this point. We are receiving help like we are flood victims, although that's about right since we were not paid for three months.
"We come here to work to earn a salary but instead we need to borrow money just to fill petrol to go to work," he said.
Nik Mohamad (photo) further lamented how the effort and loyalty displayed by the staff to ensure the daily's continued publication were being ignored by the management.
"We love this place and we have stayed on no matter what, but we were not appreciated. Even with no pay, we did not abandon our duties.
"Our troubles were taken lightly... it's as if we have no value (to the company)," he said, adding that their hopes were repeatedly dashed as they continued to receive memos of further delays.
At home, Nik Mohamad said he felt sad when even his son, now in Form Three, offered to receive a smaller allowance just to reduce his burden.
Meanwhile, former Utusan journalist Siti Ainiza Kamsari said the current situation only made worse an already unusual deal of voluntary separation scheme (VSS) severance to be paid in monthly instalments from last December up to December this year.
"Typically VSS scheme is offered as a lump sum. This lump sum amount can then be used as a capital to start a business or cover expenses while looking for a new job.
"But what had happened to former Utusan staff, our VSS was promised to be paid in instalments... and the payment has stalled," said the mother of five who similarly served the company as a journalist for close to 20 years.
Siti Ainiza (above) added while it was estimated that Utusan will require RM80 million to settle all outstanding VSS payments to 735 former staff, the company's management has so far only managed to sell one asset valued at about RM850,000.
"So how long more do we have to wait?" she asked.
The one-hour protest held during their lunch hour was led by the National Union of Journalists Malaysia (NUJM) Utusan Malaysia branch chairperson Mohd Taufek Razak.
Taufek, who is also NUJM central exco chief, revealed that he had earlier today met with Utusan executive chairperson Abd Aziz Sheikh Fadzir at the Human Resources Ministry in Putrajaya.
Quizzed on problems faced by Utusan to sell its assets, Taufek said it was largely due to the fact that many of the company's buildings did not have a certificate of fitness.
"During the time when Umno was in power, they (management) don't really care about this because they think (Umno) will always be around to help.
"But now after Umno have lost, we want to sell our assets but we can't because we need to wait for clearance from the fire department or other bodies," he said.
The picketers today stood along Jalan Utusan opposite their office building while a smaller crowd remained to observe from in or right outside its main gate.
Also seen were representatives from the Malaysian Trades Union Congress and an official car belonging to the Human Resources Ministry. - Mkini
Very sad. There were many millionaires produce by umno. Aren't they willing to save utusan?
ReplyDelete