YOURSAY | ‘Staff and stakeholders have to own up to low productivity, overstaffing, high costs.’
MAS policy allows staff to take some rest, Mueller told
Oscar Kilo: Why are so many people so defensive? Outgoing MAS CEO Christoph Mueller was not referring to flight deck or cabin crew sleeping on the job. He was referring to staff sleeping in hangars.
Perhaps it would help if he clarified whether he saw these people sleeping openly in the hangar, or in the special rooms where sleeping is permitted.
But it still does not detract from the fact that MAS had too many staff, resulting in high costs, low productivity and dismal profitability.
Mueller did not mention corruption and cronyism. He was actually being nice.
ACR: Unfortunately for the National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia (Nufam) and ex-MAS employees, Mueller is an airline industry veteran and his statement on MAS culture indicates that what MAS does, is likely not the standard practice in other well-run airlines.
If he was from another industry, his statement would have been easily challenged.
Legit: Yes, the company was and is still overstaffed. So you have many employees having nothing to do and therefore they sleep during working hours.
Even those who had work to do would have been sleeping on the job, considering how low the productivity at MAS was, and how poorly the company has been performing over the years.
Mueller has no reason to apologise for he was only telling the truth, and of course, it hurts.
Anonymous_4031c: Sadly, we are certain Mueller can tell the difference. We have a bloated staffing problem not only in MAS, but in the civil service too. Yes, the truth hurts but we have to learn from it and embrace change.
Norman Fernandez: "Mueller did not understand how we operate," said Nufam.
Well, we can see how MAS has been bleeding red and kept alive with taxpayers' money. I believe the people will believe Mueller rather than you, Nufam.
Headhunter: The malady is not confined to MAS but other Malaysian government-linked companies (GLCs) and in particular, the civil service.
We have seen it all before. When the announcement was made of Mueller's appointment, many did comment that he would be shocked by Malaysian work ethics when he came on board. So, what's new?
Anonymous #66797900: MAS had charged and dismissed staff for missing/leaving their place of work without authorisation and won the cases in the Industrial Court.
For these staff and their union to deny that there was indiscipline among the bloated workforce reflects their irresponsible attitude and denial of facts.
Why should Mueller apologise or explain what he meant? If union leaders don't know what he meant, it's time to learn the meaning of commitment and responsibility.
The union's act of forcing the dismantling of the merger with AirAsia resulted in MAS sinking further into the red, and become a liability to taxpayers.
With AirAsia's no tolerance of job shirking, all these so-called leaders would have been the first to go.
Anonymous_1371479577: If MAS was profitable and did not need to be bailed out, no one would really care if people were sleeping in the hangars.
Unfortunately, the aviation industry is really tough and competitive, and MAS cannot afford to have a high staff count to revenue ratio.
Like any business, MAS must be able to justify the numbers because the consumers today have many options, including AirAsia, for both local and international destinations.
Just Sharing: Mueller is a newbie to the aviation industry - according to the retrenched staff of MAS.
But Mueller's impressive career in the aviation industry for 25 years was the key reason why he was hired to be the CEO of MAS.
It is a well-known 'secret' how the people work in the government and GLCs. Any wonder why we are being left behind compared to our neighbouring countries?
Anonymous #31081882: MAS was overstaffed, just like other Malaysian GLCs as well as the government itself.
Recently, Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin made a comment about ‘budaya minum pagi’ among government staff and got brickbats for that.
So folks, think about it. If you are not productive, then be prepared to be retrenched. That's the reality of global competition. It is not about race.
Either you go if you are not productive, or your company goes bankrupt for failing to address these unproductive workers.
Kuasa Rakyat: The fact remains that there were too many people doing the work. I won't be surprised that actually the 6,000 cut is still not sufficient - that there are still too many employees.
The number to cut should be around 10,000 to make productivity meaningful. As it stands, MAS is still bloated.
Fair and Square: MAS was taken as another government department, which took staff recommended by cronies, which explains its bloated numbers.
A cursory check with any efficiently managed airline in the world will justify how right Mueller was. It’s the same with MAS’ purchases, which were more than 25 percent above market value.
A 35 percent cut across the board is required to bring the airline back to its feet. Look at the AirAsia business model, no need to look at Singapore.
J Chong: Instead of rectifying the problem, Malaysians are trying hard to justify their actions. What a pity.
What about the purchases that were marked up 20-25 percent? Where and to whom did this money go?
Fairnsquare: Overreaction seems to be a norm among us Malaysians. Mueller's statement was not against the staff of MAS, but rather the management.
He was elaborating on the overstaffed situation. This cannot be denied as the retrenchment shows this to be correct.
Any business will fail if costs exceed profits. Government subsidies are temporary and should be stopped once errors are corrected. However, we seem to think that as long as the government is willing to subsidise, it should be business as usual.
This mentality must change. Doing business at a loss for the sake of providing employment is a mentally deranged solution.
We need to do business profitably and provide employment. Let us not justify our mistakes, but rather learn from them.
TheAnonymous: Indeed, if everyone was doing such a great job, whose fault is it that the airline had failed so miserably?
The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. Over the past one year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now.
These comments are compiled to reflect the views of Malaysiakini subscribers on matters of public interest. Malaysiakini does not intend to represent these views as fact.
