Friday January 11, 2013
Battle between Nufam and Maseu to represent cabin crew
Friday Reflections - By B.K. Sidhu
A BATTLE is brewing between the Malaysian Airline System Employees Union (Maseu) and the National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia (Nufam). Reason? The latter wants to be the sole body representing the cabin crew of Malaysia Airlines (MAS).
All this while, Maseu has been the body that has taken care of the rights of the cabin crew, negotiating collective agreements (CA) with the MAS management and looking into a dozen other things. Maseu is, by far, the most powerful union in the country because it had lobbied to unbundle the share swap between MAS and AirAsia Bhd last year.
But now, Nufam believes it can do a better job because it is looking at a double-digit pay hike for the cabin crew, whereas Maseu had only managed to wrangle a 5% hike for the 2011-2014 CA. This has to be juxtaposed with the fact that MAS' net loss for 2011 was RM2.5bil and that the airline is still not out of the woods yet.
Nufam has even set up a Facebook account to rally members to join it in its fight for better rights.
MAS has eight associations and unions, four each representing its diverse group of employees ranging from pilots to general workers. The story of the unions and cabin crew began when Malaysia Singapore Airlines (MSA) ceased operations in 1972, subsequently breaking up into Singapore Airlines and MAS, which then inherited the union known as the Airlines Employees Union Peninsular Malaysia (AEUPM).
AEUPM represented the cabin crew, ground engineering staff, clerical staff and the baggage boys, often referred to as non-executive employees.
However, in 1979, there was a major industrial dispute, leading to strikes over the issue of collective bargaining, culminating in the deregistration of AEUPM.
In the early 1980s, Maseu was formed and sought recognition from MAS' management to represent the non-executive employees, including the cabin crew.
But along the way, some cabin crew members became unhappy because they felt they were not getting enough in terms of salary hikes and grouped together due to the unique nature of their work. This led to Mafaa, or the Malaysia Airlines Flight Attendants Association, being formed.
However, since it was registered as a society, it was not able to represent the cabin crew in the CA negotiations.
Nufam entered the scene last year and is now asking the MAS management to recognise it as the rightful union body to represent the cabin crew so that they can have a separate CA.
Maseu, however, is not ready to give up just yet because, to all intents and purposes, it has been representing the cabin crew all these years. Nufam, nonetheless, believes it has better chances of getting more for the cabin crew.
To resolve this issue, a secret ballot was to be held last week for the cabin crew to decide for themselves which union body they preferred to represent them. However, at the 11th hour, the secret ballot was postponed at the request of the Human Resources Ministry because it needed more time to deliberate on the matter.
Nufam had last month signed an agreement with the MAS management to have the ballot as it would have allowed the cabin crew to vote, for the first time in history, for a dedicated union to negotiate a separate CA for them.
The cabin crew are keen on having their own perks, preferably reflective of what they do. They want close to what the pilots are getting in terms of benefits.
Next week is going to be an interesting week for both Nufam and Maseu, as both are trying to get their political masters to intervene so that each can have their own way in representing the cabin crew.
Which union comes out tops remains to be seen, but what's certain is that there should be no room for violation of the Industrial Relations Act.
l Deputy news editor BK Sidhu wonders if Nufam will also represent other airlines' cabin crews.