Worker cheer

How to make labour work

WAGE is a hot issue in Malaysia. Hotter still is the minimum wage. Ask for a raise, a tsunami of words will head the employees’ way. Be that as it may, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin promised a review of the minimum wage — presently RM1,200 — in his Labour Day message on Saturday. RM1,200 just scrapes the barrel, says Professor Datuk Dr John Antony Xavier, vicechancellor of AIMST University (Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology University). Increasing it will make workers more productive but it should be adjusted to the cost of living across Malaysia, he opines. He issues a caveat, though. The bar mustn’t be too high. There will be other reviews but these are details that will come after a series of reiteration. At some point, living wage, an income that covers the necessary living costs of a family, must make the list. In a 2018 report, Bank Negara calculated Kuala Lumpur’s living wage in 2016 to be between RM2,700 and RM6,500, depending on the number of people in the family. The timing may not be right for either, warns Professor Dr Yeah Kim Leng of Sunway Business School. His reason? Small businesses — in Malaysia most are small or medium — will be driven out of business. A fair retort is: when is the right time? Covid-19 is here to stay. Medical experts tell us to expect it to moult from a pandemic to endemic.

This notwithstanding, what is more important is Muhyiddin’s idea that the government, employers and employees are strategic partners in the national economy game. Granted the idea isn’t a novel one but it is a fresh take for many Malaysian employers, if not all. To take a factor of production as an equal third in an equation, and a national one at that, may need much government urging. And a step change in policy and attitude. Let’s take policy first. Muhyiddin has pointed to some that are heading labour’s way. There may be more depending on the reiteration process. This is a positive way forward because the government is often seen to be on the side of employers, not the employees. Now for the attitude. The fresh take of the strategic partnership will work with some novelty, though, on employers. Capital has a habit of looking askance at labour. This attitude must be shed if the strategic partnership Muhyiddin mentioned is to work. Or in the language of Dr Shukor Mohd Harun of Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, the two — employers and employees — must strive to make the partnership equitable. Not all employers are willing to make the step change. Productivity comes before pay, they say. Fair point. But productivity has gone up since the employers last shouted “productivity”. In 2019, it was 2.1 per cent up and a year earlier it recorded similar growth. True, productivity dropped 5.4 per cent last year, according to a recent statement by the Malaysian Productivity Corporation (MPC). But this is Covid19-induced global trend. Yes, it isn’t just a Malaysian labour pain. Besides, MPC is expecting productivity to go up this year. If employers want productivity to climb a happy altitude, they must change their attitude. Because attitude determines altitude.

...what is more important is Muhyiddin’s idea that the government, employers and employees are strategic partners in the national economy game.