PETALING JAYA (Jan 24, 2013): The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) has hit out at MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek for supporting employers who are resisting the implementation of a minimum wage as currently planned.
MTUC secretary-general Abdul Halim Mansor described MCA as acting as a "spokesman" for the wealthy and advocating the demands of industry bosses.
"Chua doesn't care for the needs of workers who slog for as low as RM500 a month," he said in a statement today.
He said the policy and quantum for a minimum wage was intensely debated for over three years before a decision was made in March last year, and gazetted in July. "Chua has just woken up from a long slumber to issue an ultimatum the government u-turn on the minimum wage policy," he said.
Under the policy, minimum wage is set at RM900 in the peninsula and RM800 in Sabah and Sarawak.
Chua on Tuesday said MCA had received many complaints from employers, but has urged them to be patient as he has submitted a proposal to the Human Resources Ministry that foreign workers should pay their own levy and bear the cost of their own transport and accommodation.
"If there is no decision after Chinese New Year, we (MCA) can no longer hold them back ... We will tell them, do what needs to be done," said Chua.
A total of 4,500 companies had reportedly applied for implementation of minimum wage to be delayed, and to date, 600 of them have been allowed postponement.
Migrant rights group Tenaganita's executive director Irene Fernandez said Malaysia has the highest income disparity in Southeast Asia, with only 20% of Malaysians earning 51% of the total national income, as opposed to a larger 40% who earned only 14% of the nation's revenue.
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