Debt-ridden Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is likely to lay off its entire workforce of 20,000 to start afresh <g data-gr-id="17">as as</g> a smaller airline with a regional focus rather than international, a media report said on Monday.
MAS, one of Malaysia’s biggest government-linked companies hit by twin tragedies of MH370 and MH17, will terminate the job of its 20,000-employee workforce, and then offer new contracts to two-thirds of them, the Straits Times reported. The only person spared in this restructuring plan would be chief executive Christoph Mueller, the report said. This is part of the last-ditch effort to remake the MAS, saddled with debts for several years now, even before the twin tragedies. But no government-liked company (GLC) in Malaysia has ever sacked nearly everyone and this could well be the most number of people ever sacked in one day in Malaysia.
Executive chairman of the consulting and audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers Mohammad Faiz Azmi has been appointed <g data-gr-id="15">administrator</g> to oversee the lay-offs and the re-hiring. He will sign all the termination letters, which will be sent out on Wednesday.
Employees are anxious and morale lowest. “I thought a GLC was the safest place to work in, but now I don’t even know if I will have a job on June 1,” said an MAS staff member. “I cannot even think about how I am going to pay for my house and car <g data-gr-id="25">loans.</g>”