MASEU plans cooperative to create jobs for former MAS employees

The Malaysia Airlines System Employees Union (MASEU) plans to set up a cooperative to generate income and create jobs for Malaysia Airlines (MAS) employees who will be laid off.

Its president, Alias Aziz said with the setting up of the cooperative, it would serve as a channel to help members look for new employment opportunities, like as taxi drivers.

"We expect the cooperative to be in operation in August and we can help apply from the Land Public Transport Commission (for taxi permit)," he said in an interview with Bernama.

He said this in response to reports that MAS would send out termination letters to its 20,000 staff tomorrow and also an offer letter to join Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAB Bhd), a new company set up to carry out the airline business.

Alias said MASEU had receive various job offers from government departments and agencies, as well as the private sector, for exiting MAS employees.

He said the Corporate Development Centre (CDC), a body set up by Khazanah Nasional Bhd to support exiting MAS employees in their career transition, by providing them with re-skilling training and placement services.

The employees would be offered a broad range of free outplacement and training services, including talent profiling, career counselling, basic and detailed training, job seeking skills, entrepreneurship, retirement planning and placement, he added.

For those keen to venture into business, he said, CDC would assist them in terms of counselling and also funding.

He also said an association for former MAS employees would be set up after the dissolution of MASEU to look into their interests and welfare.

Alias, who has been with MAS for 34 years, said he believed all MAS employees were prepared to accept whatever options given to them by the new company.

On August 30 last year, Khazanah Nasional Bhd, MAS's sole shareholder, unveiled a radical plan to revive MAS that called for job cuts, a capital injection of up to RM6 billion and the creation of a new company to carry out the airline business.

It was reported that between 6,000 and 8,000 jobs would be cut in stages over a one-year period as part of the plan and two-thirds of the 20,000 MAS workers would be re-employed by MAS Bhd.