UTUSAN Melayu employees have urged Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to intervene in getting the financially strapped company to pay their salaries.

In an open letter to the prime minister, the National Union of Journalists of the publication’s chapter (NUJ-Utusan) said they have not been paid their salaries for the past three months, resulting in them suffering severe hardship.

They also said that former employees who had accepted the company’s severance package have not been paid their severance compensation either.

They urged Dr Mahathir to intervene now as rumours were swirling of a media conglomerate wanting to taking over the company but was fearful of its liabilities.

“We urge the prime minister to intervene to ensure the company management moves in the right direction.

“Please help us to overcome our difficulties,” NUJ-Utusan said in its letter.

NUJ-Utusan also urged the company’s editorial board to apologise to Dr Mahathir over their slant published in the media in recent months.

“They should apologise to Dr Mahathir for their past behavior in slandering and insulting him after taking political instructions,” the letter read.

Last September, the ailing Malay-language daily publisher offered a voluntary separation scheme (VSS) to 800 of its 1,500 employees, with compensation to be paid over 12 months.

Apart from publishing the 80-year-old Utusan Malaysia, the company also prints Kosmo.

Trouble first surfaced with the payment of the first tranche due in December, which was delayed and paid a month later.

The Utusan management – helmed by former Kulim Bandar Baru MP and new majority shareholder Abdul Aziz Sheikh Fadzir – said the payment could not be made as the management did not have enough funds and was waiting for funds from the sale of some company assets.

The company has also defaulted in paying salaries to its staff.

On August 19, hundreds of Utusan staff picketed outside its office, demanding the payment of their salaries.

It triggered talk that the company was about to shutter and cease publishing Utusan Malaysia and sister paper Kosmo.

However, following a board meeting, the management decided to keep the paper afloat and, as a gesture of goodwill, paid employees RM2,000 each.

It also increased the cover price for Utusan Malaysia to RM2 and Kosmo to RM1.50.

Umno also contributed RM1.6 million to the paper, which went towards paying staff salaries.

Umno still has a presence in the company but with a reduced stake of 18.1%. – September 22, 2019.