The Malaysian Insight

THE National Union of Journalists has urged Utusan Malaysia journalists to go on a partial strike to protest the management’s failure to pay salaries on time.

The NUJ chapter at the Umno-owned Malay daily was informed on Thursday by Utusan Melayu Bhd’s management that the company no longer had sufficient funds to pay staff salaries.

“NUJ has advised the staff of Utusan, if they don’t have enough money to fill their vehicles with petrol to go out for assignments, they should come to the office and sit there as a sign of protest,” the union said in a statement today, specifically highlighting journalists and photographers who are often required to travel to cover the news.

The statement, issued by NUJ committee members, said executive staff at the paper only received their salaries for August on September 6.

Non-executive staff who are to be paid mid-month (today), were informed that they would only be paid on September 21.

“NUJ was informed of this bad news by Utusan Melayu Bhd, which is owned by Umno, that it does not have enough money.

“This situation will definitely cause hardship to Utusan staff and hamper their ability to support their families, as well as further demoralise the staff,” NUJ said.

The union added that Utusan in recent months had not been paying staff claims or making deductions for the Employees’ Provident Fund contributions nor for other deductions, even though such details appeared on their salary slips.

The Malaysian Insight understands that since several months ago, Utusan staff could no longer receive medical treatment at private clinics as the company had stopped giving them guarantee letters.

NUJ said it is disappointed with the company’s new executive chairman Abd Aziz Sheikh Fadzir who was appointed on June 7, for failing to develop a welfare plan for the paper’s 1,400 staff.

“It was a big mistake for Umno as Utusan’s largest shareholder to appoint him to the position,” NUJ said.

The Malaysian Insight has contacted Aziz for comments and is waiting for his response.

NUJ had twice before, in May and late last month, urged Umno as the majority shareholder to sell its shares to free up money for staff salaries.

The company is now classified as a PN17 (financially distressed) firm after failing to repay debts of RM1.2 million to two banks.

It has been reported that staff are not leaving because they hope to obtain payouts under a voluntary separation scheme (VSS), but Utusan now does not have the RM90 million needed to conduct a VSS.

The company has operated at a loss in recent years and reported a RM5.8 million loss in the first quarter of 2018.

Its accumulated losses reached RM71.4 million as of March this year, leading to the current PN17 status.

Utusan, which also publishes Mingguan Malaysia, Kosmo and Kosmo Ahad, is to launch a new tabloid format tomorrow, ditching its broadsheet to cut down operating costs and stem its burgeoning debt. – September 15, 2018.