02/12/2023
https://malaysiakini.com/columns/688541 *COMMENT | Rafizi, don't kill minimum wage policy*
S Arutchelvan
Published: Dec 1, 2023
*"There are no plans to impose a mandatory RM1,500 minimum wage order for now following the adoption of a more progressive wage approach.”*
- Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli
*COMMENT | If there is no mandatory minimum wage, the workers will suffer and be bullied because there has been no precedent of employers voluntarily raising the wages before.*
Evading and protesting every time the minimum wage is introduced is a norm for employers and the Malaysian Employers Federation. People like Economy Ministry Rafizi Ramli who don’t earn a minimum wage will not understand this.
Millions of workers rely heavily on the minimum wage. Only two percent of workers come under Union Collective Agreement, leaving 98 percent of low-medium earning workers vulnerable.
Unlike the employers, we are alarmed and worried about the progressive wage policy. What will happen to the mandatory minimum wage?
The progressive wage policy that Rafizi is so gung ho about is voluntary and not mandatory. No wonder employers are happy. Even getting employers to enforce the mandatory minimum wage is difficult and always delayed.
Rafizi keeps talking about Singapore. Even in Singapore, the progressive wage policy is only currently implemented in the cleaning, security, landscape, lift and escalator, and retail sectors.
*How can Rafizi replicate the same here?*
For example, 150,000 cleaners in government schools and hospitals only rely on a minimum wage of RM1,500. They are paid by contractors who are changed every three years. So which employer is going to voluntarily increase wages when their tenure is only limited to three year?
It's something that workers have fought very hard for.
