This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on December 17, 2019
KUALA LUMPUR: New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd (NSTP) will lay off 543 employees or over 40% of its workforce as part of a wider retrenchment by parent Media Prima Bhd announced in November.
The job cuts — excluding employees at its TV3, 8TV, ntv7 and TV9 television stations — are estimated to bring the total lay-offs to over 1,000.
According to the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), NSTP branch chairman Farah Marshita Abdul Patah, NSTP has about 1,200 to 1,300 employees.
“The employees affected include those of its stable of publications — the New Straits Times, Berita Harian and Harian Metro,” Farah said, adding that affected employees’ last day of work has been fixed for March 12, 2020.
In a statement, Media Prima said affected employees were notified yesterday, without disclosing the number of affected employees.
“The new operating structure and the list of affected employees were determined after several consultations with the Sistem Televisyen Malaysia Bhd Employees Union, TV3 Executive Union, National Union of Journalists Peninsular Malaysia (NSTP branch) and National Union of Newspaper Workers.
“Compensation payments will be made in full upon the completion of internal and regulatory processes,” it added.
Farah told The Edge Financial Daily that Media Prima is to pay a 1½-month salary per year of service to union members, noting the lay-offs will leave NUJ members to 143 from 336 currently.
She said bureaus nationwide would be trimmed to five from 14 currently, with departments in the east coast (Pahang, Kelantan and Terengganu), in the north (Penang, Kedah, Ipoh and Perlis) and south (Johor, Negeri Sembilan and Melaka) to be merged.
The Shah Alam and Putrajaya bureaus will also be merged, while Sabah and Sarawak will have a bureau each, she added.
Meanwhile, Media Prima said the group has ensured a fair and equitable compensation governed by the Employment Act, the respective union collective agreements and employment contracts.
“The group will additionally provide support including job outplacement services and career counselling,” it added.
Media Prima said its business transformation includes changes to the group’s business model and internal organisation structure. It expects the restructuring to be completed by the first quarter of 2020.
Rationalising Media Prima’s operations follows the recent entry of Aurora Mulia Sdn Bhd, linked to tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary, owning a 31.9% stake in Media Prima.
Last month, Media Prima saw its net loss widened to RM73.4 million for the cumulative nine months ended Sept 30, 2019 (9MFY19), from RM20.58 million a year ago, on a 10% decline in revenue to RM801.41 million from RM894.84 million.
Traditional advertising and circulation revenues for 9MFY19 dropped 15% and 21% respectively versus those for the corresponding period. An overall cautious spending contributed to declines in revenues across the group’s business segments, it said.
The cuts represent a recent trend in the media industry with upstart companies and newspapers shrinking their businesses.
The Malay Mail ceased its print operations and went fully digital on Dec 2, 2018 amid an increasingly challenging media industry. Business publication Focus Malaysia recently announced that it ceased its weekly print and digital editions on Dec 6 after operating for seven years. It will be transformed into an online business news portal focusing on news, feature and opinion pieces, and also a monthly print publication.
Last month, ailing media group Berjaya Media Bhd (BMedia), publishing theSun newspaper, announced that Singer (M) Sdn Bhd will be injected into BMedia pursuant to its regularisation plan to prevent it from being delisted.