The new management should start slashing the salaries of top executives; laying off deadwood and getting employees to multitask. Brace for impact, warns flight attendants union Aug 30, 2014 The National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia (Nufam) has warned of an acute shortage of staff and cabin crew even before the national carrier’s new company (Newco) begins its operations. Brace for impact, we will face an acute of humanpower in cabin crew as it appears many may want to leave MAS. “If MAS fails to execute the VSS (voluntary separation scheme) exercise carefully, many will leave and the operations will be turned upside down - (it will be) a major setback for the entire airline once again, lamented Nufam president Ismail Nasaruddin. Yesterday, Khazanah Nasional Bhd unveiled a radical plan to revive the ailing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) that calls for job cuts of about 6,000 employees, a capital injection of up to RM6 billion and the creation of a new company (Newco) to take over the airline business. Khazanah managing director Azman Mokhtar said that a new legislation, which would have a finite life, was needed to facilitate the migration of the existing business to Newco. Nufam’s Ismail said Khazanah should tread gently when executing the radical move. “If you want to push the button on the company, do it gradually, and not by sending shockwaves down the spine of the employees. The confidence in the company will be shattered if they come down too hard on the staff.” Whatever MAS or Khazanah does, it must be practical and achievable, he remarked. “If it’s a handsome and sweetened payout, many might take it. But can they do that for all the 6,000 employees they are thinking of trimming? It will be difficult to achieve that within a short period. “Flight and ground operations will have lots of setback. If the exercise is done carefully and targeting the right divisions, then it will be smooth.” Global search for new CEO When people leave their jobs, Ismail added that there will be a shortage of humanpower which “can drastically impact the whole MAS operations”. “We hope this is not a repeat of what happened in several divisions in 2005 when there was a similar exercise of restructuring the company. The union hopes the target of 6,000 is right. We do not want to see any hitches or failures again.” Khazanah wants to ensure that Newco has a leaner workforce and cleaner balance sheet to compete effectively in a tough operating environment. Khazanah wants to see job cuts of 30 percent from the existing MAS workforce of 20,000 employees. It is one of the many conditions Khazanah has imposed on the management of MAS if it were to inject more funds into the ailing airline. The job cuts also affect the top leadership of MAS, which comprises a team of 500 staff called the Extended Leadership Team (ELT). Most of them were holding senior positions with long service. Azman said the current chief executive officer (CEO) of MAS, Ahmad Jauhari Yahya (above), has indicated his wish to leave. “We have embarked on a global search for a new CEO and have engaged an international firm to undertake the task,” he said. Browse to News Columns Letters Languages EN BM
Posted on: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 08:06:10 +0000
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