30 Bernama TV (BTV) staff representatives lodged complaints with the Labour Department in Kuala Lumpur today, over the company's failure to pay their salaries.

 

The workers, including journalists, video editors, producers, technicians and support staff, last received their wages on Oct 20.

 

BTV yesterday admitted that it can no longer afford to pay wages and instead, gave its employees only partial back pay of RM500 for the month of November.

"We have lodged six complaints regarding our salaries, our status (as employees), and the status of the company," one representative told Malaysiakini on condition of anonymity.

 

"We work in news, they want everything in realtime, but when it comes to our wages, it's not in realtime," she said.

 

"We don't want to sully the image of our employer, but we are forced to (lodge the complaints). If not, who is going to put food on the table, who is going to give us our salaries so that we can go on with our lives?"

 

Besides demanding for their salaries, and the assurance that they will be paid for December, the BTV workers also want to know who exactly is in charge of the company.

 

"We don't know who exactly is in charge of us. Who is the management? We want to know if something happens again, who do we refer to?" asked the representative.

 

Bernama asserts that it is not responsible for BTV's staff as it is only a minority shareholder of the privately-owned station.

 

It has also been paying for BTV salaries using its own funds, but now BTV chief executive officer Ibrahim Yahaya ( left ) had said Bernama can no longer afford to do so.

 

Bernama General Manager Zulkefli Salleh when contacted, told Malaysiakini that the news agency was still trying to work out a solution.

 

The BTV staff representative said the Labour Department will now investigate their complaints over the next two to three weeks.

 

Meanwhile the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) said Bernama TV is flouting labour laws by failing to pay staff their dues.

 

MTUC secretary-general N Gopal Kishnam when contacted, said that the partial back pay is totally against the Employment Act.

 

"The RM500 paid does not clear BTV because it does not amount to full wages, as required by the law," he told Malaysiakini .