Mavcom and Socso join forces to protect aviation workers from unpaid contributions, ensure job placement opportunities

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 16 — The Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) and the Social Security Organisation (Socso) today inked a partnership to protect workers in the aviation industry when their employers fail to pay Sosco contributions, and to also match them with job opportunities.

Mavcom executive chairman Datuk Seri Saripuddin Kasim said this partnership is part of the aviation industry regulator’s efforts to ensure employers comply with the laws to make the Socso contributions and to protect employees’ welfare.

Under this partnership, Mavcom is set to exchange information and share data on aviation companies’ compliance with laws on registering with Socso and making Socso contributions for their workers.

“As a result of this partnership, enforcement procedures may be expedited, enabling Mavcom to conduct immediate investigations and address any instances of non-compliances among our licence and permit holders,” he said in a speech during the ceremony for the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Mavcom and Socso.

Socso group CEO Datuk Seri Mohammed Azman Aziz Mohammed said the MoU or partnership has the twin objectives of ensuring aviation companies’ compliance with laws related to Sosco contributions, and to collaborate for job placement and job opportunities in the aviation industry.

“So by having this collaboration, we will have exchange of data where we want to ensure all those involved in the aviation industry register and contribute for the welfare, social security of this group of workers,” he said in a press conference after the MoU signing.

Instead of working in silos and using the traditional enforcement method of knocking on the doors of companies in the aviation industry, Azman said the partnership would mean that Socso could tap on Mavcom’s data as the aviation industry’s regulator.

“But when we work with Mavcom, so the data is there, so what we need to do is just cross check the data with what we have in our database, so that we know and we can just get Mavcom as enforcement agency to help us, to tell ‘maybe it will be better that you do early intervention’,” he said.

He said early intervention is best, namely by getting aviation firms to register with Socso and make contributions for all their workers as one of the conditions for getting a licence from Mavcom.

He said employers should register their employees from day one, instead of only registering workers and contributing to Socso for them after a worker has an accident.

“We also look forward to better collaboration in terms of job placement and also openings for this aviation industry. As you know, during Covid-19, quite a number of aviation industries were badly affected, all from ground staff up to technical crew were affected badly,” he said.

Earlier in a speech, Azman said Socso helped save 2.96 million jobs and supported over 357,000 employers with financial assistance of RM20.9 billion allocated to help keep their doors open during the national recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

He also said for the aviation industry alone, Socso had managed to avoid over 800 employees from losing their jobs by giving a RM13 million payout through the wage subsidy programme.

He said Socso aims to work together with Mavcom to help organise job fairs and career programmes aimed at the aviation industry, and to help job seekers in the industry to secure placement in companies.

He said employers should register their employees from day one, instead of only registering workers and contributing to Socso for them after a worker has an accident.

“We also look forward to better collaboration in terms of job placement and also openings for this aviation industry. As you know, during Covid-19, quite a number of aviation industries were badly affected, all from ground staff up to technical crew were affected badly,” he said.

Earlier in a speech, Azman said Socso had helped save 2.96 million jobs and supported over 357,000 employers with financial assistance of RM20.9 billion allocated to help keep their doors open during the national recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

He also said for the aviation industry alone, Socso had managed to avoid over 800 employees from losing their jobs by giving a RM13 million payout through the wage subsidy programme.

He said Socso aims to work together with Mavcom to help hold job fairs and career programmes aimed at the aviation industry, and to help job seekers in the industry to get placement in companies.

“One of the highlights of this partnership is Mavcom’s advisory role in the National Career Exploration Centre (NPCEC), set to launch in 2025,” he said in his speech.

The NPCEC will be a hub for employment assistance, to give labour market insights, and to provide guidance for students and graduates to transition into entering the aviation sector.

Azman said the NPCEC will have three components, namely a physical centre giving direct support; the NPCEC Metaverse digital reality platform for interactive career exploration experiences; and the Metaverse Career Carnival for virtual networking between job seekers and employers.

Today, Socso organised the MYFutureJobs Aviation Mini Career Fair at Wisma Perkeso in conjunction with the MoU, featuring 160 job vacancies across 21 categories from six leading aviation industry players, namely AirAsia, Menzies Aviation Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Turkish Aerospace Malaysia, Ikhlas.com, AirAsia Group’s Santan, and APR-Aviation Training Centre.

Saripuddin said he had approached Azman about two years ago after the Covid-19 pandemic as the aviation industry was impacted, and said Mavcom and Socso had already started to work together on job placements for workers in the industry who lost their jobs and that the MoU was a formalising of the partnership.

While saying that the workforce demands in the aviation industry tends to fluctuate, Saripuddin said there could be times when there was oversupply of aviation workers before the pandemic, saying: “But during pandemic, even now, actually we encounter shortage of pilots, cabin crews, all the technical staff.”

Azman also confirmed that labour demands in the aviation sector fluctuates from time to time such as with the recent movement of engineers to aviation hubs in nearby countries, and said Socso aims to help with job placements in the aviation industry as it is now growing fast.

It is understood that there are currently shortages for certain positions in the aviation industry such as licenced aircraft engineers and pilots, while there are many looking for jobs as cabin crews and ground crew.

Separately, based on Socso’s latest data provided to the media in response to a query during the press conference, it has as of December 13 approved the claims of 280 individuals nationwide who lost their jobs across all industries this year, with Employment Insurance System (EIS) benefits totalling RM3.02 million paid out to them.

“One of the highlights of this partnership is Mavcom’s advisory role in the National Career Exploration Centre (NPCEC), set to launch in 2025,” he said in his speech.

The NPCEC will serve as a hub for employment assistance, labour market insights and guidance for students and graduates transitioning into the aviation sector.

Azman said the NPCEC will have three components, namely a physical centre giving direct support; the NPCEC Metaverse digital reality platform for interactive career exploration experiences; and the Metaverse Career Carnival for virtual networking between job seekers and employers.

Today, Socso organised the MYFutureJobs Aviation Mini Career Fair at Wisma Perkeso in conjunction with the MoU, featuring 160 job vacancies across 21 categories from six leading aviation industry players, namely AirAsia, Menzies Aviation Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Turkish Aerospace Malaysia, Ikhlas.com, AirAsia Group’s Santan, and APR-Aviation Training Centre.

Saripuddin said he had approached Azman about two years ago after the Covid-19 pandemic as the aviation industry was impacted, and said Mavcom and Socso had already started to work together on job placements for workers in the industry who lost their jobs and that the MoU was a formalising of the partnership.

While saying that the workforce demands in the aviation industry tends to fluctuate, Saripuddin said there could be times when there was oversupply of aviation workers before the pandemic, saying: “But during pandemic, even now, actually we encounter shortage of pilots, cabin crews, all the technical staff.”

Azman also confirmed that labour demands in the aviation sector fluctuates from time to time such as with the recent movement of engineers to aviation hubs in nearby countries, and said Socso aims to help with job placements in the aviation industry as it is now growing fast.

It is understood that there are currently shortages for certain positions in the aviation industry such as licenced aircraft engineers and pilots, while many are looking for jobs as cabin crews and ground crew.

Separately, based on Socso’s latest data provided to the media in response to a query during the press conference, it has as of December 13 approved the claims of 280 individuals nationwide who lost their jobs across all industries this year, with Employment Insurance System (EIS) benefits totalling RM3.02 million paid out to them.