KUALA LUMPUR: The National Union of Journalists Malaysia (NUJ) has urged Media Prima Bhd to review its decision to discard more than 1,000 employees as part of its efforts to downsize operations.
In condemning the move, NUJ general secretary Chin Sung Chew also urged the company to strictly comply with the Employment Act in its bid to reduce operating costs.
“The National Union of Journalists Peninsular Malaysia expresses its regret and strongly condemns the decision made by Media Prima Berhad, the owner of various media including the New Straits Times, Berita Harian and Harian Metro as well as four television channels, to cut more than 1,000 workers.
“The NUJ calls Media Prima to urgently review its strategy,” said Chin in a statement.
Chin said a Media Prima circular distributed to its employees on Nov 1 had announced plans for a ‘substantial reduction in its workforce’.
He said the company claimed it had done everything it could to minimise the impact, including to reduce operational costs and asses its operations.
Media Prima owns the New Straits Times (NST), Berita Harian, and Harian Metro as well as television stations such as TV3, ntv7, 8TV, and TV9. It also has several radio stations, websites and billboard advertising companies.
Chin said based on information provided, job cuts will affect the editorial staff across three brands, photographers, advertisement marketing, advertisement support, advertisement sales, production division as well as circulation and sales.
“The NUJ-NSTP branch in its statement said that the termination of employment would be based on the mechanism of last in, first out (LIFO).
“It will also be based on several factors, including health and discipline. The number involved in the layoffs will be discussed with the management.
“The company will announce the list of the workers who will lose their jobs by the end of December. The layoffs will involve every department, including staff and management personnel. Some units will be downsized and other will be closed. The town hall session with the management will be held on November 15,” he said.
Chin noted that the decision to cut the jobs came in the wake of tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary's enlargement of his stake in Media Prima through Aurora Mulia Sdn Bhd, which reportedly owns a 32 per cent share in Media Prima, making it the largest individual shareholder.
Chin said Syed Mokhtar also owns printing permits for Utusan Malaysia, Mingguan Malaysia, Kosmo! and Malaysian Reserve, and said with the ownership of Media Prima, he is likely to have become the biggest player in the Malaysian media landscape.
“NUJ Malaysia is very much concerned with the dilemma and difficulties faced by the media companies during this current economic downturn.
“But we also remind the executive board who manage the media companies or media groups not to tolerate any form of political deception whose idea is to kill off the media practitioners, especially reporters by restructuring the company as an excuse.
“We do not hope to see any media in the country controlled by politicians,” he said.
The media, said Chin, should be free from any forms of political parties, regardless of whether they are the ruling government or opposition.
“The media should be allowed to play its role as the fourth estate, to report without fear or favour in helping the government develop the country,” he said.