The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) today urged the Human Resources Ministry to look into Sun Media Corporations failure to comply with the Sun Media-NUJ Collective Agreement 2000/2002.

It (Sun Media) cannot go on violating the collective agreement made between the management and the employees as in the end the employees will become the victims, secretary of The Sun s NUJ branch P Vijian told malaysiakini today.

Vijian criticised Sun Media as having no respect for the collective agreement and added that he could not understand why the management could not afford to pay, for one, the annual increment owed to the retrenched staff.

The sum, which is quite small, ranges from RM55 to RM70 per month per individual, and 80 to 90 people are entitled to it. But still they [Sun Media] claim they dont have enough funds to settle the payment, he said.

Earlier today, NUJ Malaysia filed a suit against the Sun Media Corp Sdn Bhd in the Industrial Court for failing to comply with Article 10 of the Sun Media-NUJ Collective Agreement 2000/2002.

In a press statement, general secretary Hong Boon How said Article 10 provided that all confirmed employees shall be eligible to one step annual increment effective the first day of January each year.

According to Hong, The Sun s NUJ members who were affected by two retrenchment exercises on Jan 11 and Feb 28 were not given the annual wage increment, thus resulting in lower lay-off benefits.

Financial contraints

NUJ regrets that the company had chosen to ignore Article 10 although the issue was raised during a meeting between [us], Sun Media and the Industrial Relations Department on March 5.

[We] feel that the company should not cite its financial constraints to deprive NUJ members of their rightful dues and entitlement, added Hong.

The Sun retrenchment saga erupted on Jan 11 when it laid off 53 employees citing financial difficulties. However, the sacked staff claimed that union members were deliberately targeted.

Two weeks later, NUJ filed a suit against Sun Media for failing to comply with Article 34 of the collective agreement which provides for a two-month contractual bonus.

The retrenchment exercise culminated on Feb 28 when the company sacked another 256 of its remaining 411 staff after it was announced that another media company, Nexnews Bhd, intended to buy a substantial stake in the ailing daily.

The paper, with a circulation of about 82,000, has suffered an estimated loss of RM200 million since its inception in 1993.