Tourism players to help retrenched MAS staff

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Tourism Federation (STF) and Sabah Association of Tour and Travel Agents (SATTA) will assist retrenched Malaysia Airlines (MAS) staff in the form of employment opportunities in the tourism industry, specifically in travel agencies and hotels.
Dato’ Seri Winston Liaw, the president of STF and SATTA, said the axed MAS employees could register with the federation or association so that they could be notified of job openings in travel agencies and hotels under both STF and SATTA.
“If they (retrenched MAS staff) want to continue to work, we can blast out their applications or qualifications to STF and SATTA members to let them know that the applicant is an ex-MAS employee in need of a job.
“If there is a vacancy, they can go for interview at a travel agency or hotel through us,” Liaw said when asked to comment on the retrenchment exercise carried out by the airline and how STF and SATTA could assist Sabahan MAS staff who have lost their jobs.
Liaw believed that MAS employees would definitely possess good customer service qualities.
The tourism industry also prefers to employ individuals who have experience in this sector, who are familiar with this industry rather than a novice who needs a year or so of training, he pointed out.
Nonetheless, Liaw hoped that the job seekers would not demand high salaries.
He said senior MAS employees who had worked for decades at the airline would have been issued salaries at a certain level.
“But now as you (retrenched MAS staff) enter a new company, you have to let the company discover your abilities and strengths. In time, the company will naturally increase your salary.
“If you demand high salary, I believe in this current situation it will be difficult for travel agencies or hotels to offer employment.”
On the other hand, Liaw hoped that MAS would do away with its centralized control system during the restructuring exercise as the system has affected the company’s efficiency.
More often than not, he said MAS was slow to reply when travel agencies requested for quotations on air tickets because the request had to go through MAS headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.
“For the past three to four years, almost every decision had to be referred to Kuala Lumpur (MAS headquarters).”
He said travel agencies had to wait for MAS in Kota Kinabalu to receive a reply from the headquarters in Kuala Lumpur before the local office could convey the response to travel agents.
By then, Liaw said MAS would have lost the business deal because travel agents could turn to other airlines to book air tickets, such as AirAsia, as travel agencies could purchase the tickets online from the low-cost carrier.
“So I hope Kuala Lumpur (MAS headquarters) will give the person-in-charge in Sabah some power to determine the pricing.
“The headquarters cannot manage so many things at once as well.”
He hoped that MAS could provide faster and more efficient service, and do away with the need to refer every decision to Kuala Lumpur headquarters.
Liaw said businesses needed to act fast to secure sales, or else they would lose out to others.
MAS on Monday served all its 20,000 employees termination notices effective June 1, but offered 14,000 reemployment under new contracts.

Source: Borneo Post