KUALA LUMPUR: The National Union of Journalists Malaysia (NUJM) is ready to act as a mediator in addressing the issue of unpaid wages for media personnel at several news portals.

Its president, Farah Marshita Abdul Patah, said this was to ensure that the rights of the affected journalists were upheld and that all salary arrears were promptly settled.

“As the sole body responsible for negotiating wages and employment conditions for journalists in Malaysia, NUJM stresses that salary arrears represent a serious violation of workers’ rights.

“These journalists have worked with great dedication, yet they have not received the payments they are owed,“ she said in a statement today.

Farah Marshita affirmed NUJM’s commitment to protecting the rights of Malaysian journalists and ensuring that they are fairly compensated for their hard work. She also emphasised the importance of establishing unions in every media organisation.

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She said that the existence of unions would not only safeguard workers’ rights but also ensure that media personnel wages remained progressive in line with the country’s development.

Farah also called on the company that owned the portals to immediately resolve the outstanding wage issues and fulfil its obligations to the affected journalists.

“Justice for media workers must be upheld, and no form of negligence should be tolerated,“ she said.

Yesterday, NUJM and the Media Independence Movement (GERAMM) urged the employers of these media outlets to quickly settle the unpaid wages of a group of journalists, enabling them to plan their future.

Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil also made a similar call today, describing the act of not paying the salaries of media practitioners for several months as totally unacceptable.