Nufam’s planned secret ballot off for now

IT would seem that for now, the National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia or Nufam is not getting its way to hold a secret ballot. This is despite it submitting a memo to the Prime Minister’s office on Tuesday and planning to stage a demonstration at the Human Resources Ministry yesterday afternoon.

The protest, aborted as of now, is however slated to take place, albeit at a later date.

To recap, a battle began when Nufam decided to go one up on the Malaysian Airline System Employees Union or Maseu to be the sole body representing the 3,730 cabin crew members of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) in January 2012.

This was despite Maseu having been the body that had taken care of the rights of the cabin crew, including negotiating collective agreements (CAs) with the MAS management, from the early 1980s up till the point Nufam entered the scene last year. Nufam, believing it had a better chance of securing more for the cabin crew, asked the MAS management to recognise it as the rightful union body to represent the cabin crew so they could have a separate CA.

To resolve the issue, a secret ballot was supposed to have been held two weeks ago for the cabin crew to decide for themselves which union body they preferred to represent them. However, at the 11th hour, the secret ballot was postponed at the request of the Human Resources Ministry because it needed more time to deliberate on the matter.

Not to be outdone by the latest developments, Maseu president Alias Ahmad also met officials from the PM’s office this week on several matters, including Nufam.

For Nufam, time is running out as the memorandum of agreement it had signed with MAS on Dec 19 expires today. Unless it secures a new date quickly for the secret ballot, it may not get to represent MAS’ cabin crew for now. It needs 50%-plus-one vote to become the union of choice for the cabin crew.

By virtue of its name, Nufam should be a national union. However, it wants to be accepted as the union to negotiate the CAs for the airline’s cabin crew.

Currently, in-house union Maseu, which has fewer than 7,000 members, negotiates the CAs. Besides the cabin crew, Maseu also represents baggage handlers, clerical staff and ground engineers. The cabin crew make up about 20% of Maseu’s total members. It has negotiated 12 CAs to date, with the last being for the 2011-14 period for a 5% pay hike.

Nufam’s contention is that for years, the rights of the cabin crew had not been properly represented by Maseu. Hence, it is coming forward to do justice. But the recognition byMASis critical for that since there is already an in-house union. Therefore, the need for the ballot.

Nufam president Ismail Nasaruddin claims the ministry had enough time to deliberate on the matter. As a matter of fact, it had nine months, so why stop the ballot now, he contends. In his opinion, the staff have a choice as stipulated under Section 8 of the Industrial Relations Act.

He is also of the view that Nufam had not violated the Act in any way. All it wants is recognition. Hence, the memos and slated protest.

But Maseu’s Alias believes that Nufam should be a national body that looks at macro issues, leaving Maseu to be the in-house union. He wants both parties to work together for the betterment of the cabin crew, as the standard of all unions is to take care of employees’ rights and not create problems for them.

Whatever the arguments and reasons from both sides, the trump card lies in the hands of the cabin crew. However, they can only exercise that option if they are given a chance to vote.

Deputy news editor B.K. Sidhu believes the fight for rights is often an arduous journey.