Flat daily wage rate for estate workers unworkable, says support group

comments     Claudia Theophilus     Published     Updated

The Plantation Workers Support Committee (PWSC) today rejected the suggestion by the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) to drop the monthly wage scheme for estate workers and enhance the daily wage system instead.

MTUC secretary-general G Rajasekaran last Saturday urged plantation workers and their employers to reach a compromise by dropping the monthly wage scheme and focus on improving the existing daily wage structure.

He suggested a flat rate of RM25 as a daily wage to enable regular plantation workers to earn at least RM650 for 26 working days a month.

PWSC coordinator A Sivarajan welcomed the idea but said that imposing a flat rate would do nothing to improve the workers overall wages.

For example, he said the RM11.50 and RM14.50 rate for rubber tappers and field workers is only a small part of their daily wage calculation.

Their total income is calculated together with three other variables, including world rubber pricing, which form the bulk of it.

So, improving the flat rate will not resolve the real problem in the long-run due to the fluctuating nature of external factors, he told malaysikini .

External factors

The other two factors are the weightage of rubber collected or oil palm harvested by the workers which is also dependent on current world prices for the commodities, and an attendance allowance.

The weightage calculation is dependent on the area of the plantation the workers are harvesting because some areas have a lower yield than others.

This is due to differences in fertiliser used, tree stock, their age and the natural phenomenon of leaf-shedding which occurs for about three months every year, he said.

These external factors, said Sivarajan, have nothing to do with the workers capabilities or willingness to work, but are factors beyond their control which affect their final wage calculation.

According to him, a tapper can collect an average of 50kg to 60kg of rubber from about 600 trees.

Sivarajan supported Rajasekarans suggestion that Section 16 of the Employment Act 1955 be strictly enforced.

This long-standing provision makes it mandatory for the employer to provide his/her worker with a minimum 24 days wages if the worker is prevented from performing his/her prescribed duties or if the employer fails to provide other suitable work.

Rajasekaran said the National Union of Plantation Workers (NUPW) and the Labour Department had been condoning employers blatant breach of this provision designed to protect plantation workers from the vagaries of weather.

He said, however he was confident that the Industrial Court would favour enforcement.

Four demands

Sivarajan stressed that total sum of wages is still dependent on the external factors based on the earlier arguments.

The PWSCs four demands for plantation workers are for a monthly wage of RM750, a minimum annual increment of RM50, a one-month bonus and an ex-gratia payment of RM1,000 per year of service (in cases where their contracts have been terminated).

On Feb 10, the Malaysian Agricultural Producers Association, citing the economic downturn, rejected NUPWs proposal for a new collective agreement incorporating monthly wages for rubber tappers, drawing flak from the MIC and several non-governmental organisations.



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