Nufam: Rehire MAS staff or we will strike

PETALING JAYA: An employees union is threatening a strike if Malaysia Airlines (MAS) does not retract the termination letters it served on 6,000 of its staff.

The National Union of Flight Attendants (Nufam) said it was giving MAS 48 hours as of Tuesday to recall its termination letters and re-hire these workers.

"If the above conditions are not met within 48 hours, employees affected will all undergo (a) tools-down campaign against the airline throughout and continuously will protest against Malaysia Airlines," said Nufam president Ismail Nasaruddin (pic).

He said this protest would continue until "fruitful results" were met.

Nufam claims to represent some 3,500 MAS staff.

Malaysia Airlines, which is being restructured, has served termination notices to 20,000 of its staff.

However, some 6,000 of them will not be re-hired when the carrier becomes Malaysia Airlines Berhad from Sept 1.

"Down tools" is British slang which means "stop working".

Ismail said the union wanted MAS to renegotiate the terms it sent to its staff.

He advised MAS to re-hire its employees and offer to them a voluntary separation scheme (VSS) instead of merely terminating them.

Nufam, he said, also sent a memorandum to the Human Resources Ministry demanding that the airline retract its conditions set on its staff.