Copies of the Utusan Malaysia newspaper are pictured at a stall in Sungai Besi, Kuala Lumpur December 22, 2018. — Picture by Shafwan Zaidon

IPOH, August 9 — Employees of Utusan Malaysia Sdn Bhd are set to stage a protest on August 19, after 800 of them were not paid their salaries last month.

The former Umno mouthpiece has often delayed salaries and this latest incident involves wages for the month of July, The Malaysian Insight reported.

The online news portal quoted a source saying that the affected staff are registered under the National Union of Journalists (NUJ).

“We plan to have a picket on August 19 to protest the breach of the collective agreement and the late payment of wages.

“Those expected to picket include 250 staff under NUJ. This does not include executive staff who have also not been paid for two months,” the news portal quoted the source as saying.

The NUJ is expected to hold a press conference later at 4pm today on the issue, having alleged that Utusan and Kosmo! staff have had to resort to taking out loans from loan sharks and pawning their jewellery to feed their families and cover their daily expenses.

The source also revealed that salaries for the executive staff had also been delayed for two months, with some receiving RM2,000 as part of their June wages.

“Husbands and wives working in Utusan have to bring their children to the office because they cannot afford to send their kids to a nursery or babysitter. Some staff have accumulated debts over the past two months,” the source said.

Last year, staff of both newspapers threatened to picket following a similar wage issue, but called it off after the management came up with an amicable solution.

The source said Utusan and Kosmo! staff are giving the management until August 19 to resolve the issue, or they will proceed with the protest.

As of December 2018, approximately 800 employees have accepted the voluntary separation scheme as the company embarked on a cost-cutting measure. However, their payments were also delayed.

The Utusan Group, which publishes Utusan Malaysia and Kosmo!, is currently on PN17 status on the Malaysian Stock Exchange after failing to pay an outstanding debt of nearly RM1.2 million to two banks.