AAM staff to be paid on Oct 31
> Management gives new timeline to settle backdated wages
SHAH ALAM: Even after more than two months, the employees of the Automobile Association of Malaysia (AAM) and its subsidiaries have yet to get their backdated salaries.
The salaries were due on Oct 17, but the management had cited “unavoidable circumstances which was beyond expectation”, as the reason for not being able to pay the salaries on time.
However, the management has now provided a new cut-off time, and the payment will be made on Oct 31.
An internal circular bearing the signature of AAM’s chief executive officer, Eugene Tay, dated Oct 14, sighted by theSun revealed that employees of the association’s headquarters and branches nationwide as well as its subsidiaries — AAM Travel Planners Sdn Bhd, AAM Motorsports Sdn Bhd and AAM Automotive Centre Sdn Bhd — have still not received their July salaries.
Tay had also urged staff, through the circular, to be patient with the management, which was trying to solve the issue.
On Aug 17, dozens of employees picketed outside AAM’s headquarters in Shah Alam over unpaid wages and Employees Provident Fund (EPF) contributions, which had not been remitted for close to a year, theSun reported. In a subsequent report on Aug 18, it was reported that the motoring association was planning to sell its headquarters to bail itself out of mounting debts and financial woes, which included unpaid salaries.
According to the same report, AAM chairman Tunku Mudzaffar Tunku Mustapha said the EPF contributions would be settled once the sale of assets was finalised.
He also said the situation was because almost 90% of the branches were losing money.
However, the sale of the headquarters was called off after members objected to the move at a special general meeting held on Oct 3.
Previously, theSun was told by EPF that AAM had not remitted contributions since November last year and legal action had been initiated.
The association, which has been around for more than eight decades, has RM4.5 million in debts. Annual reports showed that AAM had been running on losses for close to a decade.