Saturday, March 8, 2014

MH370 MALAYSIA :::Search on after Malaysia Airlines flight vanishes - Boeing 777-200

Search on after Malaysia Airlines flight vanishes

The aircraft never made it to Chinese airspace as John Sudworth reports from Beijing International Airport

A search is under way in waters between Malaysia and Vietnam after a Malaysia Airlines plane vanished on a flight to Beijing, with 239 people on board.
Malaysia Airlines said in a statement that flight MH370 had disappeared at 02:40 local time on Saturday (18:40 GMT on Friday) after leaving Kuala Lumpur.
It had been expected to land in Beijing at 06:30 (22:30 GMT).

Malaysia's transport minister said there was no information on wreckage and he urged against speculation.
"We are doing everything in our power to locate the plane. We are doing everything we can to ensure every possible angle has been addressed," Seri Hishammuddin told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.

"Our hope is that the people understand we are being as transparent as we can, we are giving information as quickly as we can, but we want to make sure information has been verified."
Malaysia Airlines chief executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said the focus was on helping the families of those missing. He said that 80% of the families had been contacted.
The plane went off the radar south of Vietnam, according to a statement on the Vietnamese government website.
Its last known location was off the country's Ca Mau peninsular although the exact position was not clear, it said.
The Boeing B777-200 aircraft was carrying 227 passengers, including two children, and 12 crew members.
'Very worried'
The passengers were of 14 different nationalities, Mr Jauhari said.
Among them were 152 Chinese nationals, 38 Malaysians, 12 people from Indonesia and six from Australia.
A woman, believed to be the relative of a passenger onboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, covers her face as she cries at the Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing on 8 March 2014Relatives of passengers have faced an anxious wait at Beijing International Airport
Relatives of missing passengers at Kuala Lumpur airport (8 March 2014)Relatives of passengers also waited for news at the plane's departure airport in Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia Airlines Boeing 737 passenger plane prepares to take off at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in November 2012Malaysia Airlines is the national carrier of Malaysia and one of the largest in Asia
The pilot was Capt Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, who joined Malaysia Airlines in 1981, Mr Yahya said.

A Vietnamese navy official told the BBC the plane had gone missing within Malaysian maritime territory.
China has sent two ships to the South China Sea to help in any rescue, Chinese state television said.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is reported to have told government departments to "start the emergency procedures, strengthen communication with Malaysian Civil Aviation authorities, prepare search and rescue efforts", says the BBC's John Sudworth in Beijing.
The flight has now been removed from the international arrivals board at Beijing International Airport, our correspondent reports from the terminal. It had been listed as delayed for more than six hours after it was due.
Friends and relatives expecting to meet passengers from the flight have been instructed to go to a nearby hotel where officials are on hand to provide support, our correspondent adds.
The Associated Press reported a woman weeping on a shuttle bus who was heard to say on a mobile phone: "They want us to go to the hotel. It cannot be good."
BBC map showing Malaysia, Vietnam and China
"This news has made us all very worried," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.

"We hope every one of the passengers is safe. We are doing all we can to get more details."
Fuad Sharuji, Malaysian Airlines' vice-president of operations control, told CNN the plane had been flying at an altitude of 35,000ft (10,700m) and that the pilots had not reported any problems with the aircraft.
The airline is the national carrier of Malaysia and one of Asia's largest, flying nearly 37,000 passengers daily to some 80 destinations worldwide.
The route between Kuala Lumpur to Beijing has become more and more popular as Malaysia and China increase trade, says the BBC's Jennifer Pak in Kuala Lumpur.
The Boeing 777 had not had a fatal crash in its 20-year history until an Asiana plane came down at San Francisco airport in July of last year. Three teenage girls from China died in that incident.
Boeing said in a statement posted on Twitter: "We're closely monitoring reports on Malaysia flight MH370. Our thoughts are with everyone on board."


At the scene

For more than six hours after it was due in, the flight was listed as delayed, but MH370 has now been removed from the international arrivals board.
Friends and relatives expecting to meet passengers from the flight have been instructed to go to a nearby hotel where officials are on hand to provide support and, when it comes, information.
The flight was a code share with China Southern Airlines CZ748 and more than 150 of the 227 passengers on board are Chinese Nationals. State media are reporting that two rescue boats have been sent into the South China Sea, from the ports of Haikou and Nansha, to assist with the search and rescue effort.
The weather along the route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing was reportedly good and Malaysia Airlines, and the plane, a Boeing 777, both have good safety records.

Four MAS flight attendants sacked for taking part in rally-

PRESS RELEASE - NUFAM - Union Busting

http://labourbulletin4workers.blogspot.com/2014/02/malaysia-press-conference-nufam-union.html

Message to TAN SRI SYED MOKHTAR AL BUKHARY - Press Release ::: Press Report for DRB Group – Termination action against workers exercising their political rights is abhorred.

Global Unions Mobilizing to Stop Crown Holdings from Exporting Union Busting

GENEVAMarch 7, 2014 /CNW/ - At a Feb. 25 meeting held in Geneva and organized by IndustriALL, unions representing employees of Crown Holdings from seven countries shared experiences about labour relations at Crown Holdings.
More importantly, they developed a plan of action to defend workers in Canada and Turkey and to prevent the spread of the company's anti-union behaviour, often practised by North American employers, to other areas where Crown operates.
Using the Take-Backs No More campaign (www.takebacksnomore.ca) of the United Steelworkers in Canada as a start, a new global network of unions at Crown is emerging along with a global campaign. The campaign is being bolstered by participation from two other global union federations, UNI Global Union and IUF whose affiliates represent other Crown workers as well as those of key customers.
"Our effort to not only link together various unions at Crown but also incorporate supply chain unions is meant to provide a more equal balance of power in dealing with the enormous power of this multinational corporation," said Jyrki Raina, General Secretary of IndustriALL. "The arrogance displayed by Crown Holdings in refusing to even acknowledge offers by global unions to meet demonstrates that we need real actions and not just words."
Ron Oswald, IUF General Secretary says, "The IUF has successfully fought for formal international recognition from a number of major food and beverage companies all of which would claim to respect human rights standards for their workers. Those companies' responsibility for ensuring similar standards for human rights through their supply chains is equally clear and we therefore cannot allow a major supplier of packaging to those same food and beverage companies to flout human rights standards the way Crown does. We stand shoulder to shoulder with IndustriALL members fighting for their rights at Crown."
Christy Hoffman, Deputy General Secretary of UNI Global Union says, "We can win these fights with global corporations when we stand together, share strategies and coordinate across the entire supply chain. Crown will not be able to continue its anti-union treatment of employees in Canada and Turkey once the facts are known to workers across the world. UNI has worked in successful partnership with IndustriALL in a number of campaigns and will fully support its efforts to vindicate the human rights of the brothers and sisters at Crown Holdings."
Crown is one of the world's largest manufacturers of food, beverage and aerosol cans.
Included among Crown's belligerent acts are:
  • A decade of cuts forced on union workers in North America
  • An ongoing six-month strike in Canada prompted by Crown's demands for a permanent lower wage scale for new workers that would reduce pay by 42%
  • Using legal barriers to delay full recognition of a union in Turkey
  • A lack of transparency and consultation over possible closure of plants in Europe in violation of EU legislation.
On March 5, 2014, the 500,000-member Congress of Union Retirees of Canada (CURC) endorsed a boycott of Carnival Cruises to protest the role of Carnival's chief executive, Arnold Donald, who as a director of Crown Holdings is accountable for the six-month labour dispute in Toronto.
Plans are already underway to mobilize for Crown's shareholders meeting in Philadelphia. Other actions are also planned.
SOURCE IndustriALL Global Union / http://www.digitaljournal.com

Union Busting 

Four MAS flight attendants sacked for taking part in rally-

PRESS RELEASE - NUFAM - Union Busting

http://labourbulletin4workers.blogspot.com/2014/02/malaysia-press-conference-nufam-union.html

Message to TAN SRI SYED MOKHTAR AL BUKHARY - Press Release ::: Press Report for DRB Group – Termination action against workers exercising their political rights is abhorred.