Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Malaysia's 4 million poor workers

RM290 a month. Newspaper reports tell us of record-breaking KLCI, billions in FDI, trillion-ringgit trade, and a PFI-powered economy. Come July 1, when the new government salary scale comes into effect, even the lowest-paid government cook will lifted off the poverty line".
"With the increase, the lowest basic salary (received by Grade N1 cooks) will be RM649.15 a month compared with RM480.85 before the increment. With fixed allowances, the lowest total monthly income will be RM1,024.15 compared with RM805.85 currently.
This lifts the lowest-paid civil servants off the poverty line, an issue which Cuepacs had raised several times. The poverty line is RM691 in the peninsula, RM888 in Sabah and RM765 in Sarawak." [Read the rest of the story here.]
Now the Malaysian Trades Union Congress tells us that 4 million out of the 10 million workers in the private sector still get paid below the poverty line!
"Basic wages of plantation workers remained below RM400 per month while collective agreements in the non-metallic mineral products industry provided wages between RM400 and RM550.
"Even in Johor Baru, where the cost of living is high, industrial workers are paid as low as RM390. Five-star hotels in Kuala Lumpur are paying a basic wage of RM290 per month to cleaners and waiters," said MTUC president Syed Shahrir Syed Mohd [www.syedshahir.blogsome.com]
The MTUC is demanding a RM900 minimum wage or it will go on a nationwide picket on Monday (June 25) unless they hear from the Prime Minister. [read the story here].

26 comments:

  1. give me convenience or give me death.

    ReplyDelete
  2. All our trade union leaders have been "domesticated" by the government.
    These threats of nation wide picket is 'acar, acar' saja to please their members.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous12:11 pm

    Welcome to Pak Lah's Malaysia

    ReplyDelete
  4. these poor workers probably won't get what they need because their vote don't get as much *value* compare to constituencies that has more civil servants.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous1:35 pm

    "4 million out of the 10 million workers in the private sector still get paid below the poverty line!"
    Yes! it's true. My elder son works in a Chinaman auto accessories shop as sales assistant & got RM600 per month, no medical benefit, no EPF, no salary slip & no proof of employment & if he complain to the Authority, the Chinaman will just terminate his service. Previouly, he worked in a Chinaman tyre service shop in Johor Baru, RM650 per month with EPF but no medical benefit. My second son works in 7-Eleven & get about RM600 per month also. An Indon working in Petrol service station about RM500 to 600 per month. If you don't like to work, there always Indon, Bangla, Nepalses etc would take up the job.
    That's why so many Malaysian are eager to work in public sector now.

    In the private sector, these RM600 salary range is only fit for the Pendatang Haram/illegal foreigners.

    If the Government weed out these foreigners/immigrants (whether legal or illegal) & let the "supply & demand of labour" to decide, then this problem will be solved. Of course, inflation will go up, wages will follow suit & it's a chain reaction. But then let the market force "supply & demand" to decide & finally it will come to an equilibrium situation.
    The present lopsided situation is due to the presence of the illegal immigrant. These leeching bosses are exploiting them at the expense of our local workforces.
    I remember in one of the previous TV News interview, an Indian restaurant owner asked "With this wage & working for 12 hours, where can she find Malaysian willing to work?" Isn't this exploitation.

    ReplyDelete
  6. "acah-acah" la, mr smith. Acar-acar is a dish.

    What is with the standard of BM in this country, huh?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous2:17 pm

    MTUC should not kachau" the PM, he is on a honeymoon of sorts, after Russia, many more honeymoon destinations! He is on prime honeymoon. Remember, he once said he needed more time when critics alleged he did not deliver the BN manifesto promises. Now we know he actually needed more time to get married. Now he is married, he needed more time for honeymoon. So let him enjoy and rest. He needed more time now. Be patient....!

    ReplyDelete
  8. 5 star hotel paying waiter 290??? i think that's a bit far fetched. certainly not in KL.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Mr Smith, Tuan Syed Shahrir is different from the former MTUC chief who was more interested in getting than giving. My posting of 29 May also urged Tuan Syed to stay the course and to show that MTUC is not making empty threats about industrial action. Rather than appending "acha-acha" to MTUC's efforts we need to link hands with them to fight for this worthwhile demand.

    ReplyDelete
  10. "Anonymous wrote:
    let the market force "supply & demand" to decide & finally it will come to an equilibrium situation"

    --- Dear sir,

    You are half right. The other more significant half lied in DEB (NEP). Basically, the 4 million very very poor workers are the result of our racial discriminating policy of NEP (The remaining 6 millions are not the very very poor, but only poor workers, but who care? They are not my kind).

    Remember? A private company run by Malaysians are subjected to the implementation of NEP. This mean the owner has to operate his business by giving significant way in the form of 30% or more quota, he may not get loan or grant even if he is qualified under certain scheme, he may need to find a middle man to act as his shield before he set up his biz for the license, his factory might subject to the rule of 30% bumi employees before it's permitted to run legally, he is most probably not able to sell direct to any government department even if he has the best deal in town, even all the above does not happen to him, privately he may have to pay more for his son's education even if his son score 10As. All in all, this gravely restricted his resources to increase the salary of his workers, the cost is high, and it's simply too low a margin to call!

    Moreover, even if he decided to increase his workers' salary, he might not be able to pass the cost on to the consumers. Remember? This is the only country in the world where the government think they are in the better position to fix the price of an chicken egg in the market! You are not allowed to sell at what ever price you like, for example, selling a cup of ice milo for $2.20 was fined at over $10k.

    I think ABB has done 10 X good than the previous administration by the fact of salary increment, even MTUC does not ask for minimum wages, i'm sure private sectors are all under pressure now, ABB's move is basically political, i suspect his guys do not give any tot on its implication on our economy when they announce this salary increment, be prepared for the inflation or go back to communism!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous6:55 pm

    dear all,
    two rape cases happened in Johor Baru again.
    the first case, a 16-year-old girl was gang raped by four men at tanjung langsat around 1am, wednesday.
    the second case, a 15 year old school girl waiting for schoolbus in tampoi was taken away by a man who claimed that he was a police.
    it happened around 6.30am.
    the man was driving a kia.
    she was taken to a secular place in senai and raped.
    the rapist left her there afer two hours and she walked to Jalan Skudai and asked for help.
    her uniform was torn and the rapist was kind enough to give her his shirt to wear.
    is it possible to spare some space to discuss about the scary crimes in the glamourous Iskandar?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Bro, plse visit my blog...
    http:/www.macam2bolasepakmalaysia.blogspot.com.

    I started a blog dedicated to everything football as I still harbor a slim hope of reviving Bolasepak Malaysia, the brand of football to help lift Malaysia out of the doldrums...

    zv

    ReplyDelete
  13. Going back to the topic of MTUC's suggestion of minimum wages, does any one know that this will not only 1) kick Malaysia's economy further far away from the developed nations, this will also 2) contributing to our unemployment at the later stage?

    The industrial world now is talking about efficiency wages, the cost of the goods are basically priced by per piece, that mean a worker is paid by pieces he produces, with minimum wages you cannot or very difficult in paying your worker by pieces, you are in fact asking them to close their factory and invest in India or China where no minimum wages policy is implemented.

    If all of those factories are closed, who is responsible to employ them? Shall we make them all civil servants?

    Anyway, i think someone should discuss the side effect of our civil servant's salary increment, since no main stream media say any thing about this, i heard that many SMI factories are gravely effected by its implication, as their workers are also asking for salary increment also.

    ReplyDelete
  14. "zewt wrote:
    5 star hotel paying waiter 290??? i think that's a bit far fetched. certainly not in KL."

    --- We should think this from the other angle; Why people still works for you even if you only pay him peanut? This is simply the consequent of a non-effective free market economic at work! Why is it at work in Malaysia? The answer is simple!

    ReplyDelete
  15. This used to be OSA but what is the Minimum Poverty Income line these days?

    BTW, I've written on my blog abt the spinning done to give an impression of a good economy and fake been done to boost Pak Lah's weak leadership entitled "Buah Bacang Mengaku Epal."

    ReplyDelete
  16. Bro, pls read my comment "Setahun Menderita Tiada Pekerjaan" ... It is about minimum wage. http://www.nobisha.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  17. "zewt wrote:
    5 star hotel paying waiter 290??? i think that's a bit far fetched. certainly not in KL."

    i think it's just the basic wage. For hotel low level workers, their monthly wage=basic wage + stars/points.
    those points or stars, depend on which hotel they're working, worth around 150-350. It's usually based on how much the hotel get that month or previous month may be...

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous10:32 pm

    .........Five-star hotels in Kuala Lumpur are paying a basic wage of RM290 per month to cleaners and waiters..........

    ---------------------------

    My goodness, how to survive as all 5 star hotels are situated in big cities, even with all the allowances and overtime , I bet the take home pay will not be more than RM 500 per month......................

    This is so outrageous considering people with political patronage are getting approved permits which they can easily sell for RM 20000 to RM 30000 with no capital outlay.

    Where is social justice ???

    ReplyDelete
  19. Rocky! Over 10 millions in this country living way below poverty line and we should not kid ourselves that Malaysia is paved with milk and honey!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous12:16 am

    Its all about how you spin the figures. What we need are proper revelations about the methodologies used so we dont get hoodwinked all the time.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I was at a major media event and we were the organisers at this 5-star hotel. This is year is the first year they(Hotel) allowed us in to set up the event at the grand ballroom one day before the event. Do yall know why?

    No bookings.

    Unlike previous years, when they were pomp and uncompromising, this year even the other 'ballrooms' were empty. They even kept the air-conditioning running for us while we worked into the night.

    That ought to tell you the state of our 'grand' economy as painted by Bedol.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous11:05 am

    kingyakin said: "A private company run by Malaysians are subjected to the implementation of NEP..."

    NEP or whatever, this shouldnot be justification for those leecher bosses to exploit our Malaysian workforce. Giving low pay i.e below poverty line, is a general phenomenal amongst the private sector bosses, be it Chinese, Indian or Malay. they could do this because there is a steady supply of legal/illegal immigrants that they could exploit. Many service sectors like petrol station, restaurants, parking contractors have Malay bosses paying low wages to foreigner & local Malay workers. When come to workers exploitation, there is no race barrier.

    IMO, the basic reason is still the availability of these cheap legal/illegal migrant workers. Though, we might still need some of them, but it shouldn't be employed across the board without any control. But I know this would be difficult, because some politicians are involved & this involved big monies!

    ReplyDelete
  23. To Anonymous 11.05AM,

    1) I against exploitation of workers 2) I also against racism when it come to wages
    3) I do not think the major reason for low wages in Malaysia is because of the foreign labour (the reason is simple, now you can not find a foreign labour cost less than $750, an Indo maid is no longer willing to come to Malaysia, but you still have $400 wages for industrial worker!)
    4) But i also reserve and maintain my right to go against the call of minimum wages.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I'm really disturbed upon reading the news. Cammon guys this is reality, I once being assigned in Kuching in 2003. I was shocked when a local friend of mine have a "local" maid and almost drop from my chair when my friend told me that he pays her RM250 a month! Yes, you heard me right, only RM250 a month for a MALAYSIAN maid in Kuching. Most of us pay more than that to Indonesian maid.

    I would like to suggest to MTUC instead of having a picket, why not try to ask the goverment to be in the shoes of all these low income people. Let say we ask a few of bright goverment officer to survive and work in the city for RM1,000 a month.

    IF all these appointed officers can survive and live happily for minimum of 3 months with only RM1000 a month then, they should come out with a report and present it to the rakyat. Give the report a name, "Idiots guide to survive in KL City with only RM1000 a month". I bet all the rakyat will love this report/book.

    I bet that the report will benfit more than 4 million rakyat rather than spending it on new aeroplane or sending 2 scientist to the space!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous2:32 pm

    perantau said - I would like to suggest to MTUC instead of having a picket, why not try to ask the goverment to be in the shoes of all these low income people. Let say we ask a few of bright goverment officer to survive and work in the city for RM1,000 a month.
    RIGHT, CAN THEY SURVIVE. CAN THEY STAND THE PRESSURE FROM THE BANK AND SO ON.........

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous10:24 am

    i think it's just the basic wage. For hotel low level workers, their monthly wage=basic wage + stars/points.
    those points or stars, depend on which hotel they're working, worth around 150-350. It's usually based on how much the hotel get that month or previous month may be...
    HELLO pa'chik DON'T JUST THINK. WE ARE HERE IN PG MORE THAN 10YEARS AND EARNLESS THAN 1.5K/MONTH.TIME PASSBY EVERYTHING WENT UP. UNLESS THE MANAGER/DIRECTOR IS OUR 'SAUDARA'.

    ReplyDelete