Stop MAS from wasting ‘millions’ suing employees, union tells Putrajaya

Ana Ghoib Syeikh Malaya 5:14 PTG
Nufam president Ismail Nasaruddin had previously appealed to MAS and the authorities to consider the plight of MAS cabin crew who have been hit hard by the loss of more than 20 colleagues in two air disasters in 6 months. - The Malaysian Insider

The National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia (Nufam) claims that Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is spending "millions" in legal suits against its employees and wants the government to probe such spending, more so at a time when the airline is bleeding financially.


The union said it had received complaints from MAS staff who want the ailing national carrier to stop pursuing legal action against its own employees and unions.

"The amount which MAS is spending is in the millions to file appeal cases or judicial reviews against workers and unions, which will put the company in further bad shape. They should stop this waste of funds for court battles," Nufam said in a statement today.

It called on the government to probe how MAS was able to finance these court battles even while declaring losses in its business.

"MAS should instead respect the workers' rights as most of the time the employees and union leaders are victimised. MAS uses legal firms to threaten Nufam and its members for defending their rights at the workplace," Nufam claimed.

It said that MAS had employed two law firms to pursue cases against its employees, and called on the government to investigate the approving authority for funds to be used in such a manner.

"The government should step in and investigate this. Such huge amounts of money should be put to good use or to generate profits for the airline," Nufam said, and also claimed that the airline's workers had not been paid bonuses "all these years".

MAS is looking at a complete overhaul of its operations after suffering financial losses for years.

This could mean the loss of several thousands of jobs amounting up to 30% of its workforce of 20,000.

This comes in the wake of two major aviation disasters for the airline this year. MAS flight MH370 has been missing with 239 people on board, since it departed Kuala Lumpur for Beijing on March 8.

Then, on July 17, flight MH17 from Amsterdam was shot down over Ukrainian air space, killing all 298 people on board.

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