The National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia (Nufam) wants Malaysia Airlines (MAS) to ensure that it gives full compensation to the 6,000 staff it will be laying off.

Nufam president Ismail Nasaruddin said the union was informed by its members that MAS would set aside the first five years of a worker's years of service from the compensation.

"MAS had emailed employees that it will subtract the first five years of their service.

"This means that if the employee had worked for MAS for 10 years, his five years of service with MAS will be subtracted and he will only receive compensation for five years multiplied by one month's salary," Ismail ( photo ) said in a statement.

He pointed this out as very unfair to the workers as they were not informed of the matter in the severance letters they were issued in June.

The 6,000 MAS employees who will be laid off, effective Sept 1, are expected to receive compensation from Sept 7.

Malaysia Airline System Employees Union (Maseu) president Alias Aziz said last month that those who served more than 10 years would receive their one-and-a-half-month’s last pay multiplied by years of service.

Those who served under 10 years, Alias said, were expected to receive one month’s final salary multiplied by years of service while persons with disabilities and as for husbands and wives who work in the same company, one of them will receive an additional 30 percent.

'New terms are unreasonable'

Meanwhile, Ismail said the new terms were unreasonable and many employees felt that MAS had used the reason out of the blue.

Ismail also pointed out that the government had informed the union that MAS had set aside RM1.6 billion for the compensation.

"But with the new terms, many believe that they are not getting what they deserve," he said.

MAS, he added, had yet to state the amount of compensation each employee is to receive.

"What are its motives for not doing so? Employees must be informed of the amount of compensation before Sept 7.

"Nufam wants MAS to fulfil its promises to the employees and it should not find unreasonable reasons to avoid from paying the full amount of compensation," Ismail added.