THE voluntary separation scheme offered by Utusan Malaysia to its 1,500 employees in a restructuring exercise was “insincere, dishonest, and suspicious”, said the National Union of Journalists.

The group said it did not object to the scheme offered by the Umno-controlled Malay daily as it was the company’s right to do so and it depended on the employees to accept it.

However, the group urged for Umno as the biggest shareholder to reevaluate the decision to provide the scheme due to various factors.

NUJ said the scheme was offered hurriedly without prior discussion and input gathered from NUJ itself.

“We were only informed on the formula for implementation and the solution an hour before it was announced to all employees through a briefing yesterday,” it said in a statement today.

It said the interest offered was lower than the final scheme option, retrenchment, as stated in their collective agreement.

The group said the company’s ability to pay the solution for the scheme was suspect as it promised a month’s salary multiplied by years of contribution, although the company did not have the funds.

“It means Utusan still does not have funds and will have to look for it, when they offered the scheme without providing convincing evidence on where they will obtain it (the fund).

“The payment will not be made in a lump sum, but by monthly instalments, which will take a year to complete,” it said adding that it would risk the members.

The scheme offered is aimed at off-loading at least 50% of the workforce in the company to overcome its financial constraints.

Sources told The Malaysian Insight the decision was made at a meeting between Utusan Melayu (Malaysia) Bhd executive chairman Abd Aziz Sheikh Fadzir and its staff at its headquarters in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. – September 22, 2018.