Not end of the road for MAS staff

SEPANG: The Government will find ways to assist staff affected by the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) restructuring exercise.

Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot Jaem said those affected would be absorbed in other workforce. 

"I don't want to comment further except to say that I'm sure the Government has taken into consideration the workers who might be laid off," he said. 

He was commenting on reports that MAS would be terminating its entire workforce to start afresh. 

It was reported that the service of 20,000 MAS employees would be terminated but two-thirds would be rehired by a new airline. 

The exercise is said to ease the migration of the existing operations of MAS into a new company, MAS Bhd, which will begin operations on Sept 1. 

"I believe the Government will be able to find a way to absorb them to other employments," Riot told reporters after launching the national-level Socso Safe Ride Campaign 201, here, Tuesday. 

He said the national carrier's newly-appointed chief executive officer Christoph Mueller had two separate meetings with MAS' employees association over the exercise. - Bernama