Bill to administer MAS tabled
The Malaysian Airline System Bhd (Administration) Bill 2014 which facilitates an administrator to manage the beleaguered airline was tabled for first reading at the Dewan Rakyat today.
The proposed act provides for special laws for the administration of the airlines, its wholly owned subsidiaries and partially owned units.
This will be established under a new entity which will replace MAS as the national carrier.
The bill was tabled by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar.
Under the bill, the national carrier, which will be registered as Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB) under the Companies Act 1965, will not be the successor employer of MAS.
The bill also provides for the administrator to renegotiate the terms and conditions of any contracts or agreements of the administered companies with the counter-parties.
The provisions also include that when the administrator assumes control of the companies, it will not be liable for any obligation relating to any retirement plan or other post-employment benefit plans of the employees or former employees that existed prior to the assumption of control.
The administrator will also not be liable for any sum which is calculated by reference to a period of time prior to MAB becoming the employer of the person in question.
MAB, the appointer and the administrator, cannot be made a party in any claim or proceeding which commenced or continued by any employee or former employee pursuant to the Industrial Relations Act 1967, Employment Act (1955), Sabah Labour Ordinance 1959, Sarawak Labour Ordinance 1952 or the Trade Unions Act 1959.
The bill also states that matters relating to productivity or effective utilisation of workforce, including on leave entitlement, working hours, scheduling of work including flight time limitations and flight duty periods will be determined by MAB in compliance with applicable laws and international standards.
The administrator also cannot be sued or prosecuted in any court or tribunal for any loss or damage caused by its exercise of power under the new act, unless it was due to wilful misconduct or gross negligence.
The act shall apply for a period of five years, or until MAB is listed on the stock exchange, whichever is earlier.
Sovereign state fund Khazanah Nasional had announced that it would undertake a comprehensive review and restructuring of MAS.
Khazanah will offer 27 sen for each MAS share it does not own, amounting to nearly RM1.4 billion to take the troubled airline private. It said the offer was the first stage of the restructuring scheme, which came as MAS struggled in the wake of two major aviation disasters this year.
Flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing is still missing with 239 people on board, while on July 17, flight MH17 from Amsterdam was shot down over Ukrainian air space, killing all 298 people on board. – November 26, 2014.
