Sime Darby Plantation streamlines minimum wage

KUALA LUMPUR: Sime Darby Plantation Bhd (SDP) has streamlined the minimum wage for all its workers throughout the company’s operations in Malaysia, in anticipation of the new national rate that the government will enforce in January 2019.

“With immediate effect, SDP’s plantation workers in Sabah and Sarawak will now benefit from a wage structure that is equal to their counterparts in the peninsula.

“The decision effectively raises their current minimum wage to RM1,000 per month, matching the minimum wage currently enjoyed by workers in Peninsular Malaysia as stipulated under the law,” it said in a statement.

SDP said that under the Minimum Wages Order 2016 made in pursuant to the National Wages Consultative Council Act 2011, the minimum wage rate for Sabah and Sarawak is currently set at RM920 per month.

Executive deputy chairman and managing director Tan Sri Mohd Bakke Salleh said SDP supported the government’s latest decision on the national minimum wage and was looking forward to implementing a new rate of RM1,050 when it came into force in January.

“In the meantime, and in conjunction with the Malaysia Day celebration, we have decided to standardise the current minimum wage of RM1,000 across all our operations in Malaysia.

“By standardising wages throughout our operations, we hope the equitable income opportunity will help to attract more workers to join our Sabah and Sarawak operations,” he said. — Bernama