Sun Media rejects axed-staffs terms, upsets NUJ

comments     Leong Kar Yen     Published     Updated

The National Union of Journalists today expressed regret at the Sun Media Corporations rejection of the proposed settlement benefits by 26 journalists and photographers who were unceremoniously retrenched on Jan 11.

The poor settlement offer made by the company today is almost similar to the terms already laid out in the retrenchment letters issued on Jan 11, said NUJ general secretary Hong Boon How.

We also express regret over the companys decision not to pay the one-month bonus (for 1998) to all retrenched NUJ members, including those whose employment was terminated on Feb 28, he said.

Hong called for the management to improve its offer if it is genuine in wanting to settle this out of court as soon as possible.

The 26 journalists, who were among 42 laid off on Jan 11, were offered retrenchment benefits which include one-and-a-half-month pay for every year served for those employed for more than five years or one-month pay for every year served for those employed less than five years.

Not happy

In a two-hour tripartite meeting with NUJ and the Human Resource Ministry today, the management also conceded to giving the retrenched journalists their bonuses and claims for 2001.

However, the management refused to release their 1998 bonus nor compensate them for job loss.

NUJ was represented by president Norlila Daud, Hong, NUJ-Sun branch chairperson K Kannan, vice-chairperson L Jaiarajo and secretary P Vijian.

Sun Media Corp, which publishes The Sun daily, was represented by managing director Phillip Karuppiah and acting human resources manager N Shanmugaratinam.

When contacted later, Kannan said he was definitely not happy with the decision

Forty-two Sun journalists were sacked in January after being handed retrenchment letters which cited financial difficulty as the reason.

On Feb 28, the management retrenched another 256 staff, making it the largest retrenchment exercise in the media industry since the 1961 sacking of hundreds of Utusan Melayu journalists when Umno, the dominant party in the ruling front, took over the Malay daily.



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