Exemption Of RM1500.00 Minimum Wage For Selected Sectors

 

Press Statement By  Malaysian Trades Union Congress Penang Division - 

Exemption Of RM1500.00 Minimum Wage For Selected Sectors.

The Human Resources Minister, M.Saravanan's announcement that selected sectors, such as tourism, the informal sectors and those who have suffered losses due to the impact of Covid-19, would be exempted from the Implementation of the proposed minimum wage of RM1500.00, is misplaced.

In the first instance the underlying objective, of a national minimum wage is premised upon the principle that all wage earners, irrespective of the economic sectors that they are involved in, ought to be paid a decent minimum wage. This is for the simple reason that any wage, below the national minimum wage, would only result in a mis-match of minimum wage levels between one economic sector to another. Common sense will dictate that our government cannot be cherry picking on the fundamental issue of a national minimum wage. In our view a national minimum wage must be enforced holistically and not selectively.

On this said issue the Minister Of Human Resources, and by extention the government, seems to have been swayed by the lobbying by the business community to extricate themselves from paying their workers the national minimum wage. Obviously, we have inherited a government that seems to be beholden to the employers at the expense of the grossly underpaid working class population.

On a population demography, the most vulnerable citizens of our soceity are those who are entrapped in the B40 and M40 segment. By exempting them from the benefits of the minimum wage of RM1500.00, the government ought to stand accused of being inconsiderate to their financial plight. They, faced with the ever escalating cost of living, will continue to suffer financial stress no thanks to the baseless selective implementation of the RM1500.00 minimum wage.

MTUC Penang Division is of the view that the government has a moral obligation to ensure that each and every working class citizen is paid the national minimum wage as all workers have the constitutional right to be treated equally.

We, therefore, demand that the Human Resources Minister, and the government, upholds the constitutional right of all workers to be accorded the national minimum wage without any exemption.

K.Veeriah

Secretary MTUC Penang Division

016 4184520

14.4.2022