MTUC to hold gathering against RM1,050 minimum wage

The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) plans to hold a protest gathering and hand over a memorandum to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to review the standardised minimum wage of RM1,050 a month, which will be effective nationwide from January 2019.

The gathering is scheduled to take place at Padang Merbok at 11am on Wednesday, Oct 17, after which the crowd will march to Parliament, which will be in session, to hand-over the memorandum to Mahathir, MTUC secretary-general J Solomon said today.

The date conincides with the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.

Solomon said about 25 non-governmental organisations have endorsed the movement to urge the government to review the RM1,050 fixed as minimum salary, which is said to be unrealistic to the B40 group due to the high cost of living.

The NGOs include the Electronic Industry Employees Union Southern Region Peninsular, Persatuan Sahabat Wanita Selangor, Tenaganita, Suaram, Parti Sosialis Malaysia, Women's Aid Organisation, Sabah Women's Action Group and Sisters in Islam.

Solomon said the government is practising discrimination when it listened to the employers but had put aside suggestions by the National Wage Legislative Technical Committee and MTUC.

"The committee had done a research for two years and the report had been presented to the government. The committee comprised of individuals who are neutral, most of them are professors. They are neither on the employers' nor the employees' side.

"We are puzzled as to why the cabinet did not want to use their suggestion. But instead, they accepted suggestions by the employers. This is a form of discrimination and unacceptable," he said in a press conference at Brickfields.

Solomon urged the government to declassify the report and make it public so they can identify the suggestions and the criteria used by the committee members to reach their findings.

"The report is deemed as secret. We urge the government to declassify it. The Malaysians must know the content of the report. This is important to the public. Why the need to make it secret?

"If documents such as 1MDB could be declassified, what's wrong in declassifying the report by the National Wage Legislative Technical Committee?"

Asked to comment on Mahathir's statement that the government had a hard time in deciding the minimum wage due to the current country's financial situation, Solomon said it shouldn't be a problem as the private sectors are making profits.

"We are talking about those who work in the private companies. They make a profit but the workforce is paid a pittance. These people trusted the government but they have been deceived when they were offered only (an increase of) RM50," he said.

Last month, Putrajaya announced the standardised minimum wage of RM1,050 for workers in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan.

The figure represents an RM50 increase from the current RM1,000 minimum wage for Peninsular Malaysia, and an RM130 increase from the RM920 in East Malaysia.

The Prime Minister's Office had said that the figure was proposed by the National Wage Consultative Council. - Mkini