Too soon to review minimum wage — FSI
KOTA KINABALU: It is too soon to review the minimum wage as industries are facing a hard time in the current economy, said the Federation of Sabah Industries (FSI) president Datuk Mohd Basri Abdul Gafar.
He said the industries would be hit hard if the minimum wage was further increased, which might lead to closure for some industry players.
“This will cause loss of jobs or retrenchment of workers.”
Basri said any increase in minimum wage should be done gradually and not too soon, particularly when the economy was not doing well.
He said this when asked to comment on the new minimum salary for the private sector which will be announced by August.
Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran has said the National Wage Consultative Council ( MPGN) would hold a meeting on June 13 to deliberate on the review of the Minimum Wages Order 2016.
The minister said the review was completed by the National Wage Legislative Technical Committee as provided for in the National Wage Consultative Council Act 2011.
Kulasegaran said the ministry would prepare a Cabinet Memorandum for the government to make a decision on the minimum wage after the meeting.
Pakatan Harapan has pledged to set the minimum wage at RM1,500 across Peninsular, Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan in its election manifesto.
At present, the minimum wage is RM1,000 in West Malaysia and RM920 for Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan.
Basri stressed that this was not the right time to increase minimum wage.
“For Sabah, RM 1,500 is too high. It is beyond our capabilities and will badly affect the industries.”
He said taking the Goods and Services Tax ( GST) to zerorated but later increased the minimum wages was even worse for industries.
“If the government wants to increase the minimum wage, they ought to wait till the economy has recovered and do it gradually so as not to send a shock to the industries.”