8,000 MAS Employees To Lose Their Jobs In The Biggest Staff Layoff Malaysia Has Ever Seen
National carrier Malaysian Airlines, which has been struggling to keep itself afloat even before the MH370 and MH17 tragedies struck, is set to lay off its entire workforce before transitioning into a private entity.
Cover image via Bloomberg
14,000 Malaysian Airlines staff offered new jobs, but with a pay cut up to 20%
Image via AP
Despite a lower pay package and a reduction in employee benefits, those who choose to accept the job offer will be given a two-month bonus
Those who have been offered re-employment will have until 12 June to decide whether or not to join the new company. A source within the airline said that some people will be demoted from their previous positions as certain senior positions may no longer exist.
Image via The Malaysian Insider
Making his first public appearance as CEO of MAS yesterday, Christoph Mueller revealed that the airline is "technically bankrupt" but could break even by 2018 with the newly-formed MAS Bhd.
Image via Kamal Ariffin / The Malaysian Insider
29 May: Penang is willing to take in axed MAS employees for state's booming hospitality industry
Image via SAYS.com
Penang CM Lim Guan Eng also said that the state wanted to lend a helping hand as they felt that MAS employees should not be at the receiving end of poor decisions made by the airline's top management
Image via The Star Online
Executive taxi company Premium Big Blue Taxi Services has also offered employment to MAS employees who are facing retrenchment, saying that they will waive the deposit required
Image via Lavanya Lingan / The Malaysian Insider
About 20,000 MAS employees will know their fate next Monday, 1 June when termination letters are sent to the entire workforce. Only two-thirds will be offered a new job at MAS' new entity, MAS Bhd.
25 May: Up to 8,000 Malaysian Airlines (MAS) employees may be left jobless as the struggling airline company transitions from a government-linked company to a private entity called Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB)
Image via The Malaysian Insider
According to a report by The Star, MAS will be terminating its entire workforce of 20,000 employees before offering new contracts to two-thirds of its existing staff to work under the newly-established MAB
Beginning from this Wednesday, employees will be receiving two letters – one for the termination of their services with MAS while the other letter will either be an offer to join MAB or an invitation to report to the Corporate Development Centre (CDC), a retraining programme for axed employees
Image via Thanhnien News
It is also reported that employees who are to be let go will receive a severance package of 0.8 months salary every year of service, while those who have been offered a job in the new company will be given a severance package of 0.3 months
No government-linked company in Malaysia has ever laid off its entire staff in a single setting. This could even be marked down as the most number of people ever sacked in one day in Malaysia.
Newly-appointed CEO Christoph Mueller, the only one spared from the retrenchment exercise, said earlier this month that many unpopular decisions will have to be made to whip the airline back into shape.
Image via The Malaysian Insider
However, MAS employee unions said that they have not been consulted over the retrenchment process and urged MAS to provide justifications and detailed explanations about the radical restructuring of airline staff
Image via The Sun Daily
MAS will continue to operate until 31 August, after which the airline business will be taken over by Khazanah-led MAB from 1 September in accordance of the MAS Act 2015, which was passed by Parliament last year
Image via The Star Online
Datuk Mohammad Faiz Azmi, executive chairman of consulting and audit firm PricewaterhouseCooper, has been appointed administrator to oversee the transfer of selected assets and liabilities from MAS to the new company
He will also be signing all 20,000 of the termination notices that will be sent out to MAS employees beginning from this Wednesday until 1 June.
