Sun Type 6 and 7 Keyboards Produce "a" from the Left-Side Keys

I use Sun USB keyboards with my Macs. There is a strip of 10 keys on the left-hand side with labels like "cut", "paste", and "copy". When these keys are struck, they produce an "a". This interferes with my ability to reassign these keys to other functions with QuicKeys 4: They obey the QK macro, but an "a" is also produced. By default, these keys should produce nothing at all.

I have contacted Startly (QuicKeys) about this and I've even sent them a keyboard, but they are of no help, suggesting that I file a bug with Apple. I have done this.

I'm posting here in the vague hope that someone has a clue about resolving this issue. I really want to use the left-side keys!