MTUC supports standard minimum wage
KUCHING: There is no reason not to standardise the minimum monthly wage in Sarawak with Peninsular Malaysia considering the cost of living in the state is getting higher.
Chairman of Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC) Sarawak, Mohamad Ibrahim Hamid, even said the cost of living in Sarawak was considerably higher compared to the peninsula.
Thus MTUC, he said, fully supported the recommendation for the standardisation of the minimum wage to be implemented within the next five years.
“The standardisation should have been enforced when the Minimum Wage Act was implemented, and we at MTUC definitely support the government’s desire to standardise the employees’ minimum monthly wage.
“Given the cost of living in Sabah and Sarawak is considerably higher than in Peninsular Malaysia, there is no reason why the minimum wage cannot be standardised,” he said when contacted yesterday.
Employees in Sarawak, he added, had high hope on the government to move in that direction.
MTUC Sarawak secretary Andrew Lo meanwhile said this ( standardisation) was in fact the main thing that MTUC was demanding for employees in the
The standardisation should have been enforced when the Minimum Wage Act was implemented, and we at MTUC definitely support the government’s desire to standardise the employees’ minimum monthly wage.
state.
“MTUC fully supports this and it is also our ( MTUC) main demand all along.
“Moreover, the cost of living in Sarawak is already high and as such, there is no reason for the minimum wage to be still lower than peninsula,” he added.
The Ministry of Human Resources has recently indicated their desire to standardise the minimum monthly wage across the country within the next five years.
Its minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot said it was one of ways to mitigate the increasing cost of living and reduce the disparity in minimum wage across the country.
However, Riot also expressed his concern over the ability of employers in Sarawak, Sabah and Labuan to offer higher salaries to their employees.
The current rate difference, he added, was recommended by the National Wages Consultative Council ( NWCC) which took into account the median amount of wages that employers can afford to pay their employees.
“The minimum salary data from the Department of Statistics indicates that the ability of employers (in Sarawak and Sabah) to pay higher salary is lesser compared to peninsular. We will try to close the gap but it will take time,” he said.
The minimum monthly wage in Peninsular Malaysia is RM1,000 compared to RM920 in Sabah and Sarawak, a difference of RM80.
Mohamad Ibrahim Hamid, MTUC Sarawak chairman