In a petition addressed to transport minister Loke Siew Fook and human resources minister Steven Sim, the 68 former and current staff – some of whom said they had not been paid since April – asked the ministers to instruct SAS to immediately pay all outstanding salaries and statutory deductions.
The group also called for appropriate penalties to be enforced on SAS for breaching labour laws by failing to pay its employees on time, and called on the ministries to prevent such instances from occurring again.
“We sincerely believe that the ministries will take immediate and effective action to address these issues and ensure the rights of workers are protected and upheld,” the group’s representative, former SAS general manager Faizal Aziddin, said in the petition.
Faizal said the group had lodged numerous complaints about the matter to related agencies under the human resources ministry such as the labour department and industrial relations department.
He said although the departments had acted on their complaints or were at various stages of doing so, payments had yet to be made.
“This has caused financial distress to many current and former employees,” he said.
Faizal said SAS’s failure to pay its staff their salaries and statutory deductions had led to mass resignations by managers and nominated post holders responsible for the management and supervision of areas such as flight operations and the maintenance system.
He said these resignations had affected SAS’s ability to continue providing services subject to the approval and oversight of the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM).
Review SAS’s capacity, technical capabilities
The petition also called for a review of SAS’s capacity and technical capabilities to continue running several activities due to the departure of numerous skilled personnel from the organisation.
“SAS’s continued operation under these circumstances is unacceptable and must be addressed to prevent recurring violations, especially (as it is operating) in the aviation industry,” they said.
The company’s air services permit (ASP), which allows it to transport people and cargo, lapsed on Feb 29.
CAAM, which suspended the company’s air operations certificate (AOC) on March 12, previously said the company must renew its ASP by today or risk its revocation. Its AOC was first issued in 2021.
It would take at least three months to obtain a fresh AOC. A CAAM official told FMT yesterday that SAS’s AOC had yet to be reinstated.
CAAM also suspended SAS’s certificate of operation after the non-renewal of its ASP. Both licences are interconnected.
Former senior officials at the company previously revealed that SAS had not sought to renew its ASP, with unpaid staff salaries and non-settlement of EPF and tax deductions “running into millions of ringgit”.
In a statement on Monday, SAS said it was working to stabilise its business and finances amid scrutiny over unpaid wages and EPF contributions which had purportedly led to the suspension of its operating licence.
The company, which was formed in 1992 and operates from the SAS hangar at the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Subang, said it had paid salaries on time and did not lay off any staff at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Its nature of business is listed as aviation specialist advisory and consultancy services in air transportation, including the leasing or sub-leasing of aircraft equipment, spares and related machinery.
FMT has reached out to Loke and Sim’s aides for comment.