Management changes among concerns of MAS staff

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 15, 2012): The number of changes at the top executive level at Malaysia Airlines (MAS) and the appointment of former key executives of AirAsia Bhd to the national carrier are believed to be some of the concerns raised by union representatives in their meeting with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak yesterday.

According to industry watchers, staff at MAS are concerned about the dramatic changes to its senior management line-up from its board of directors to the CEO, CFO and heads of business units, following a share swap between MAS and AirAsia last August.

MAS had appointed former AirAsia regional head of engineering, Azhari Mohd Dahlan, as its Engineering & Maintenance (MAE) CEO on Feb 1 and former AirAsia regional head of finance, Rozman Omar, as MAS group CFO.

The observer said another concern is that MAS may deunionise its workforce. It was reported that MAS has about 20,000 workers and at least eight workers' unionised groups, while AirAsia currently has 9,000 staff and no union.

MAS Employees' Union (Maseu) was slated to hold a press conference yesterday after its meeting with the prime minister, but the press conference was called off at the last minute without any reasons given. Its president Alias Aziz could not be reached for comment.

Last December, Alias had told SunBiz that MAS' unionised staff were unhappy over a potential plan by its management to downsize the workforce as part of the national carrier's turnaround plan.

He had also said the union members also disagreed with the MAS-AirAsia share swap as they see AirAsia benefiting more from the deal than MAS.

"Many MAS staff are kept in the dark by senior management about what the airline is working on, their decisions, plans and future direction," said another observer.

"For instance, they are wondering what will happen to its long-haul premium airline as it suspends loss-making routes, leaving not many overseas destinations to fly to, and as it puts more emphasis on its short-haul operations (which include Firefly and the new regional premium carrier that will be launched by mid-2012)," he added.