KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 17): The Social Protection Contributors Advisory Association Malaysia (SPCAAM) said Malaysian employers should step up efforts to attract and retain workers to prevent further staff losses after Malaysia Airlines Bhd’s engineering arm lost some of its technical staff to Singapore Airlines Ltd’s unit SIA Engineering Co Ltd (SIAEC).

In a statement on Tuesday, the group claimed that Malaysian employers have benefitted from a “rigged system” that allows them to depress wage levels through various mechanisms and systemically exploit the Malaysian workforce.

“The reaction to MAS (Malaysia Airlines) losing workers to SIAEC suggests that no employer should pay higher and accord better treatment towards workers, just so that wage levels can be kept low and exploitative employment practices continue,” said SPCAAM international labour advisor Callistus Antony D'Angelus.

“MAS should look inwardly and examine as to why it has not managed to retain workers instead of blaming the company that has done what is right for its business which in turn benefits Malaysian workers and the Malaysian economy,” D'Angelus said.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia, in its recent audit report, found that Malaysia Airlines lost more than 60 of its engineering services staff to SIAEC this year as the latter was able to offer an increase in salary of up to 40%. However, SIAEC senior vice president of base maintenance Jeremy Yew clarified that only 10% of SIAEC's technical workforce in Malaysia was recruited from MAB Engineering Services through an open recruitment process.

"Capital A boss has no business enquiring about SIAEC's practices"

In its statement, SPCAAM also questioned Capital A Bhd (KL:CAPITALA) CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes's call for greater transparency from SIAEC over its recruitment of aircraft engineers from Malaysia Airlines.

D'Angelus said: “Why should SIAEC disclose anything to Fernandes or anyone else for that matter? What business has any other company to enquire about any of the practices of SIAEC? Has SIAEC engaged in anything illegal?"

“Malaysian employers have been privileged and entitled, to the detriment of Malaysian workers. The minimum wage level is nowhere near what the living wage levels are. Businesses cannot expect to thrive while Malaysian workers do not earn a living wage,” he added.

Fernandes, in his LinkedIn post on Sept 13, had asked SIAEC to disclose where the other 90% of the Singapore company’s employees in Malaysia were from and the salaries of the employees.

The Capital A chief said he had supported Singaporean engineers coming to Malaysia and claimed that Singapore was not reciprocating. Singapore needs to stop its protectionist policies and open up the markets like Malaysia and other Asean countries, he said.