The MAS Employees Union (Maseu) is giving the national air carrier one month to clarify matters pertaining to its strategic collaboration with budget airline and erstwhile rival AirAsia, before proceeding with a threatened picket.

This follows a morning meeting between three parties representing some 15,000 MAS employees, made up of Maseu, the Air Workers Union Sabah (Awus) and Air Transport Workers Union Sarawak (Atwus), with MAS chairperson Md Nor Yusof.

mas union on mas-airasia deal 080911 ab malek arif “The picket will go on but we will wait and see. If the settlement is good, then there is no need,” said Maseu secretary-general Abdul Malek Ariff ( right ).

Speaking to reporters at the Maseu headquarters in Subang Jaya, Malek said Md Nor, while confirming plans that a new airline, to be named Sapphire Air, would be set up, gave his guarantee that when and if that happened, the company will be a 100 percent MAS subsidiary and will continue to allow its employees to unionise.

“He said he understands MAS culture, that it has always been union based. There will be no union-busting, he said,” Malek related.

He said md Nor had asked for a one-month period before conferring again with the unions, as actual plans for the collaboration were still not firmed up and the parties were in deliberation.

This is especially so pending the appointment of a new managing director for MAS, which will only take place sometime in the next week.

“They cannot do anything much yet without an MD,” Malek said.

He also said that the unions in truth had no quarrel with MAS proper, but was concerned with the collaboration which doesn’t seem to be fair, as well as certain irregular behaviour of AirAsia staff.

“Our members jumped when there were reports of AirAsia employees loose in MAS, going around asking for documents and such. This is not proper.

“He (Tony Fernandes) is a non-executive director. But he is acting in another way... we don’t appreciate him making unfounded statements and sending his boys here.”

Malek reiterated that both airlines were separate and should remain so.

Union to seek meeting with PM

He said a delegation from Maseu would be going to London in October to confer with the International Transport Workers Federation, which has expressed concern over the situation.

“They have informed me through channels to seek a peaceful solution. I think it best that I brief them directly about this before things escalate (into industrial action) and may paralyse the nation,” he said.

Malek also revealed that Maseu would be seeking a meeting with Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak over the issue, as advised by former federal minister Shahrir Samad to them at a meeting last Saturday.

While he declined to reveal the reason behind the urging by the Johor Baru MP, he would only say that Shahrir told them to immediate meet the national leader on the matter.

“Go see the PM as soon as possible. Don’t wait,” was what Shahrir apparently told him.

The three union groups had announced last week that they would picket if the deal between the rival airlines were to go ahead, citing fears of union busting tactics, unfair retrenchment and an unfair deal for MAS.

Ex-MD expresses caution over MAS-AirAsia deal