Strike will only backfire on MAS employees

A union call for a "tools down" protest by employees of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) will only backfire on themselves as well as potentially result in the airline facing a costly consumer backlash, an academician warned today.

After the twin tragedies of MH370 and MH17 which eroded passengers’ confidence and raised safety issues, this intransigence seemed increasingly likely to damage the country's image and the airline’s brand, said Dr Ahmad Zaharuddin Sani Sabri of Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM).

And he said it was most unfair that people would have their travel plans disrupted by the selfish actions of a tiny number of employees.

Dr Ahmad Zaharuddin, who is deputy director of UUM's Institute of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad Thoughts, said the threat issued last week by the National Union of Flight Attendants of Malaysia (NUFAM) to go on strike unless the airline rescinded its move to retrench 6,000 employees, was "irresponsible" given the reality that MAS was in a "technically bankrupt" situation.

He said after undergoing three failed restructurings, all efforts must be made to ensure the success of the ongoing revamp because failure was not an option.

"MAS' survival is now paramount. If there is any employees' union who's thinking of staging a strike, they should ask themselves who is going to benefit from such a move?, " he told Bernama.

He told the union that going on strike would only undermine the airline's recovery plans and put the jobs of the other 14,000 employees being retained at great risk.

Dr Zaharuddin pointed out that the RM6 billion being pumped by Khazanah Nasional Bhd (Khazanah) which owns MAS to save the national carrier also meant providing a lifeline to the remaining 14,000 jobs, adding that without the injection of such massive funds, the airline would be declared bankrupt already.

If MAS is forced to reinstate the 6,000 employees as demanded by the union, then the airline would have to close shop, he added.

"Why must we allow the minority to prevail over the majority? Why don't we think of national interest instead of individuals' interest?" he said.

It doesn't mean that we are not sympathetic to the plight of the 6,000 workers being laid off but if we want to save MAS, then they will have to seek other employment."

To-date in addition to Corporate Development Center set-up by Khazanah to help in reskilling as well as job placement, AirAsia and Malindo have offered employment to MAS terminated staff.

Dr Zaharuddin said Khazanah which owns MAS had put in place commensurate and fair compensation terms to the laid-off employees.

Based on the Collective Agreement, MAS will pay the base rate of one month's salary for every year of service for those who served under 10 years and 1.5 months per year of service for those who served more than 10 years.

Dr Zaharuddin said Japan Airlines (JAL) was once declared bankrupt that was caused among other things by the unions' objections to cost-cutting measures apart from different arrangements with different unions for different kinds of occupations-- unusual in the airline industry-- and guaranteed pilots pay for 65 flight hours even though they often flew much less than that.

And when JAL went bust, all its employees lost their jobs, he said, adding that some factions in the union which threatened to go on strike were behaving like JAL's unions.

"Let us not forget that it costs Khazanah RM1.5 billion in taxpayers' money to compensate the workers and for those offered to join the new MAS.

Dr Zaharuddin stressed the importance of Malaysian Airlines Bhd (MAB) as the new company to run MAS from Sept 1 to be free from all forms of destructive unionism as well as political interference because the ongoing restructuring to revive the airline would be MAS' "final call".