Malaysia is one of Asia's biggest employers of foreign labour. But recently, cases of deaths, abuse and forced labour have come to light. What is going on? Who is protecting these migrant workers?
BY NORFATIMAH AHMAD AND RAHIMY RAHIM
PETALING JAYA: The Government should intervene and help solve an internal crisis between the management and employees of Malaysia Airlines (MAS), says the Malaysia Airlines Employees Union (Maseu).
Its executive secretary Mohd Jabarullah Abdul Kadir claims that the national carrier’s top management has not addressed the problem, causing the resignation of 300 staff within the past two years.
“We want Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to help us and meet the union to give us the real situation behind the daily operations of MAS,” he said.
It was reported that MAS’ net loss had widened to RM1.17bil last year from RM432.59mil the year before although sales grew 9.92% to RM15.12bil versus RM13.76bil, which was higher than the RM14.76bil estimated by analysts.
Mohd Jabarullah noted that employees were facing a lot of pressure, besides disagreeing with the management’s way in dealing with their welfare.
Maseu, he said, was not trying to create any conflict or to interfere with the company’s business plans but it just wanted to ensure that employees’ rights were protected.
“The performance of the company continues to decline although the employees are compelled to work extra hours. This had continued to happen for almost three years when a new leadership took over,” he claimed.
A source told mStar Online that the departure of the estimated 300 staff had caused a loss of about RM30mil in training them during that period.
He attributed the resignations of some 120 aircraft technician, 40 ground engineering staff, 80 stewards and stewardesses and 30 pilots to work stress and better offers elsewhere.
It is understood that the staff had quit after being fully trained by MAS.
The source also said that there had been no bonuses given in the past few years and that family members of the cabin crew no longer got tickets to fly MAS.
Yet, MAS staff were saddled with more work due to staff shortage, the source claimed.
Source: The Star
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