Nufam's Response To Outgoing MAS CEO Is At Best Laughable And At Worst Worrisome
Is sleeping on the job Malaysian culture?
By Sadho Ram — 18 Jun 2016, 01:41 PM
In an interview with German broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW), outgoing MAS CEO Christoph Mueller revealed for the first time the reason behind why he had to cut 6,000 jobs, reported Malaysiakini.
It's because many of the 20,000 employees were "doing nothing".
"Many of the 20,000 employees who worked for the airline had nothing to do. In fact, when I walked through the hangars, people were sleeping."
He said MAS was in dire straits before he took over because of poor personnel management and a bloated workforce. He said that was why he laid off 6,000 workers and streamlined the firm's operations.
malaysiakini.com
But Mueller, who is stepping down in September this year, wasn't only critical of the airline, he even praised MAS with having a "proud heritage" and as the "epitome of Asian customer service"
Mueller did express disbelief at how the carrier could have been in the red at all.
"Given the country's macroeconomic conditions, with economic growth averaging over five percent for 55 years now, it's difficult not to make money with this airline," he said.
Soon after, NUFAM's (the National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia) President Ismail Nasaruddin not only blasted Mueller for his claims that many MAS employees were "doing nothing" and "sleeping on job", he even, unsurprisingly, dismissed his criticism saying he as an outsider doesn't understand Malaysian work culture
"The problem with him is that he is an outsider and he might not understand the work culture in this country. When workers sleep, there may be a reason why they sleep. Is sleep not important for the workers to recover their energy?
He needs to understand that there are many workers in the operation who work for 24 hours and some of them do over time, which causes exhaustion. Why would they want to sleep in the office? They might as well sleep at home as it is more comfortable."
Furthermore, the NUFAM President wondered if the MAS CEO also meant that the airline's cabin crew was found sleeping on the job
"If they are sleeping, who are the one preparing food for passengers? Ghosts? Even the cabin crew need sleep as it is important to be fresh for long flights," he said.
Additionally, Ismail firmly believes that "sleeping is not an excuse for a company like MAS to sack workers" because they are workers and not mere "spare parts".
He even claimed that Mueller's comment was hurtful to the 6,000 out of 20,000 employees who were let go. He called it "egoistic".
"We also believe that Mueller will definitely take the opportunity to nap when he is exhausted from a tight schedule," the NUFAM President said.
However, NUFAM's response to Mueller is at best laughable for its reasoning and at worst should be a matter of grave concern for the people if they want to see the national airline start soaring again
Instead of taking the outgoing MAS CEO's remarks and criticism about the employees seriously, the union which represents cabin crew at airlines based in the country is not only trying to dismiss it based on a flimsy logic that Mueller being an outsider cannot understand our culture. First of all, what is our culture?
Is it to sleep on the job and dismiss the person who points it out as an "outsider"?
Contrary to what NUFAM claims — that sleeping on the job is not an excuse for a company to fire its employees — it is, in fact, NOT a Malaysian work culture where employees sleep while on duty. By claiming so, NUFAM is trying to dismiss the contribution of millions of hard-working Malaysians.
NUFAM's blame-game shows why MAS has failed. When the union that represents the workers think it's alright for them to sleep while on duty, it would be childish to expect accountability from anyone.
This story is the personal opinion of the writer.
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