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With 1,000 airline jobs on chopping board, union wants aid
Published:  May 5, 2016 7:34 AM
Updated: 11:42 PM

Citing the impending retrenchment of nearly a thousand more industry workers, an airline workers union has urged airlines to contribute to a retrenchment scheme to help sustain those soon to be unemployed until they can find new jobs.

This, argued the National Union of Flight Attendents Malaysia (Nufam), is because existing weak labour policies and minimal support systems for retrenched workers have not been able to solve their woes, especially with rising cost of living.

“More workers will be dismissed by Malaysian Airlines Berhad (MAB) in a retrenchment exercise. More than a thousand will be let go when their contracts expire at the end of this month. This will no doubt increase the number of the unemployed in the country.

“What is more worrying is that many of those retrenched early this year are still jobless and still dependent on government aid.

“This is disheartening as many of them have families and children to support. What more with the fasting month and Eid celebration coming soon, and this will burden many MAB workers,” said the union in a statement yesterday.

In the face of such things, Nufam proposed the setting up of a retrenchment scheme as soon as possible to help the workers who will soon lose their jobs.

“Nufam proposed that companies contribute to the scheme to provide aid and sustain them until they get new employment.

“The government must take the initiative in the case, especially with the rising cost of living. We propose that airlines that retrench their staff should contribute to a retrenchment aid scheme, when they let go their staff.

The proposal, said Nufam, is in line with what retrenched workers overseas are accorded when they are let go.

“Don’t dismiss the issue of retrenched workers as it may lead to hardship for many of the rakyat.

“If we do not provide support for them, they will lose trust in organisations and government agencies which were supposed to help them.”

Nufam urged the government and airlines to implement the scheme as soon as possible for the sake of the workers’ welfare.

The union also added that it has instructed its members who will lose their jobs next month to file a complaint with the Industrial Relations Department within 60 days after being let go by MAB.

This will be in addition to over 3,000 Malaysian Airline Systems (MAS), and its later incarnation MAB, ex-staff who had filed their case with the department since last year, after financial difficulties forced the national carrier to restructure into the new company and let go large numbers of staff.

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