Nufam said the statement implied the minister was partial towards Malindo Air.

“It also made it seem as if the minister was involved in the retrenchment of workers by validating the airline’s actions.

“The question here is whether a minister should be making such statements on behalf of a company,” Nufam asked.

“Were there any letters or notices issued by the employers to the employees stating that their contracts had been terminated?”

Nufam said 439 Malindo Air staff were asked to go on unpaid leave in August and Saravanan’s statement left many of them confused about their current job status.

Separately, more than 2,000 Malindo Air staff were retrenched on Friday in the latest cost-cutting exercise by the airline, which like the rest of the aviation industry, is struggling to cope with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Addressing the retrenchments in a statement today, Saravanan said the 439 airline staff who received notice of unpaid leave for a period of one year can assume that their contracts had been terminated and should therefore file a job loss claim under the Employment Insurance System (EIS) to receive assistance.