Some parties, such as the National Union of Plantation Workers and the MIC are unhappy that plantation employers have not extended the monthly wage system to workers in rubber estates. The MIC has threatened to raise the matter in the cabinet if employers are going to drag their feet.

The union, having lost it relevance in championing the plight of poor plantation workers, is in a terrible dilemma as to what should be done. Today, the question is not so much about the monthly wage issue, but rather whether employers and the government have done anything worthwhile all these years for the material and social betterment of plantation workers.

The parties that are raising the hue and cry never questioned the monthly wage system that was first introduced for the oil palm workers, harvesters and mill workers. On the contrary, the interested parties, other than employers, went along with the system simply because the proposal seemed to resolve the matter.

But the point is, the matter has not been resolved at all. Furthermore, there is no point in arguing about monthly wages for rubber plantation workers if the earlier system has not done anything for oil-palm workers.

The main point about the need for monthly wages is to bring about some form of material stability for workers who have to put up with the extreme price fluctuations of commodities in the international market.

Thus, by adding fixed components to the wage system, it is expected that wages for workers would be less affected by the vagaries of the market. But what plantation workers need is not just a monthly wage system with improved fixed components, but a major quantum increase in the actual amount of wages.

The system of monthly wages will make no sense if fixed components are added without the benefit of increase in real income. This is precisely the problem of the monthly wage system that was introduced for the oil-palm industry.

A mockery

With much encouragement from the ministry of human resources, the Malaysian Agricultural Producers Association and the NUPW agreed to implement RM325 as the monthly wage for harvesters and mill workers in oil palm plantations.

Even though the price of oil palm has dipped to some extent, the average wage of harvesters and mill workers today probably stands at about RM550 and RM450 respectively. Now since the monthly wage is only applicable to workers who receive less than RM325 per month, then it is possible to say that this system is not applicable at the moment.

Only when the wages of workers go below the RM325 mark will the monthly wage system become functional. Under the present circumstances, the only way for workers to receive the monthly wage is if they are medically unfit to work. Of course, monthly wage would also not be applicable to workers who are absent as they will be sacked from their jobs for breaching the employment contract.

Since the monthly wage system for the oil palm industry is basically a mockery, there is no necessity for the above-mentioned parties to ask for its implementation in the rubber industry. There is the possibility that if the system is introduced for workers in rubber estates, it would be another mockery.

So why ask for the implementation of a system that has no support from employers or the government? Even if these two parties agree to come out with another system for rubber estate workers, it would not address the fundamental grievances of plantation workers.

In this respect, the motives and intentions of the union and some Indian-based organisations are clear - all they want is a formal announcement so that they can tell their respective audiences that the matter has been resolved.

Moral obligation

What plantation workers need is system of wages - call it monthly or daily or yearly - that recognises their hard work and contribution. It is the sweat and sacrifice of plantation labour that has created so much wealth in the country, mostly importantly enriching and fattening land owners, directors, mangers and others.

What is required is not so much the riches that were created, but some form of fair compensation within the existing system of predatory capitalism. But alas, under the given economic and political system, plantation labour has been completely marginalised from the mainstream society.

They are kept within the confines of the plantation system, earning meager incomes hardly sufficient to have proper meals let alone to have the means to educate their children and the opportunity to imagine a better future.

The monthly wage system might or might not be extended to the rubber estate sector. Even if for some reason the system is implemented, there is nothing much workers can expect from it. The case of oil-palm workers bear a clear testimony that the introduction of monthly wages has meant nothing in terms of their socio-economic improvement.

Perhaps a time has come - plantations would not last too long in this country - for social organisations and interested parties, to call for a broader incentive package for plantation labour. Not just wage improvement, but also for the provision of house ownership and land so they could have some stake in the sub-system before they leave the plantation sector.

Steady migration of workers from rural plantations to problematic urban areas could be avoided if material opportunities are extended to the former. Plantation companies having squeezed the blood out of workers, should have some minimal moral obligation to provide them land or houses.

Workers are not demanding these free of charge, of course, but on the basis of a nominal rate. They have the right to do so given their sacrifice and hard work,

P RAMASAMY is a professor of political economy at the Political Science Department, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and has academic interests in Malaysian politics and labour. He has written quite extensively and is currently focusing on conflict management in Sri Lanka.