Don't 'weaponise' pandemic to suppress minimum wage - labour group

The Labour Law Reform Coalition (LLRC) has called on the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) to refrain from “weaponising” Covid-19 to suppress minimum wage rise.

This comes after MEF said raising the minimum wage would affect business recovery from the deleterious impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We must remind MEF that during the pandemic, workers were suffering as much as employers. Many were laid off, forced to take unpaid leave or have substantial wage cuts. MEF should not exaggerate employers’ suffering but neglect the sacrifice of workers.

“Since the negative impact of the pandemic was shouldered equally by employers and workers, why can’t employers share economic profit in the form of wage rise with workers when the economy is recovering?” said LLRC chairpersons N Gopal Kishnam and Irene Xavier in a statement.

They claimed it was unfair reasoning as analysts have forecasted a GDP growth of 3.5 percent in 2021 to 6.2 percent this year.

“The market must recognise that there is a human element in determining labour cost, please treat workers as human beings who need decent living, rather than as a commodity that generates profits for capital owners,” they said.

They said that a delay in implementing the new minimum wage would violate the National Wage Consultative Council Act that requires the minimum wage to be revised every two years.

On Saturday, the MEF said it was not the time to implement the proposed new minimum wage of RM1,500.

Its president, Syed Hussain Syed Husman, said the majority of businesses are not prepared as many are still reeling from the Covid-19 pandemic and the recent flood crisis.

The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) president Soh Thian Lai supported Syed’s stance on the matter, pointing out that the proposed increase from RM1,200 to RM1,500 per month, as announced by Human Resources Minister M Saravanan, is a 25 percent jump which would have an “undesirable impact on the economy”.

However, he maintained that while manufacturers are concerned about an immediate increase to RM1,500, they were receptive to a gradual increase under a quantum to be decided by the National Wages Consultative Council (NWCC).- Mkini