MTUC: Employers should be ready for minimum wage increase

Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) secretary-general Kamarul Baharin Mansor said "burdensome" should not be an excuse for opposing it as employers could estimate the increase according to the formula provided by the National Wages Consultative Council.

''Hence, employers already know when the minimum wage review has to be carried out.

"Whenever we have discussions between the employers, government and MTUC, they will always say that when there is an increase, this will be burdensome (on private sector employers), and from 2013 to 2020 the same excuse was given," he said during the Bernama Correspondent Programme entitled "Is a Minimum Wage of RM1,500 Enough?" today.

Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M Saravanan, on Feb 5, said a minimum wage of "around RM1,500 a month" is expected to be implemented by year-end. The current minimum wage set under the Malaysian Employment Regulations is RM1,200.

Malaysian Employers Federation president Datuk Dr Syed Hussain Syed Husman recently said most industries in the country were not ready to increase the minimum wage as they were still reeling from the economic shock brought by COVID-19.

Kamarul said the last review was made on Jan 1, 2020 and the subsequent one should have been held on Jan 1, 2022.

MTUC has proposed to the government to increase the minimum wage to RM1,500 since 2013 apart from introducing a monthly cost of living allowance (COLA) of RM300.

It also believes that the increase in the minimum wage to RM1,500 is timely as it can help workers tide over the challenges of COVID-19, thus helps boosting the country's economy.

Besides, the MTUC has proposed the establishment of a national salary information centre and will bring the matter to the attention of the Ministry of Human Resources and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.