Minimum wage bill ready by June next year
The Ministry of Human Resources will table the National Wage Consultative Council Bill to replace the Salary Determination Council Act 1947 at the parliament session before June next year, said its minister, Dr S Subramaniam.
He said the bill aimed to coordinate and determine the minimum wage for private sector workers in the country and to create a council to determine an appropriate minimum wage for workers according to the respective sectors and areas.
"The act will empower the ministry and council to undertake whatever is necessary to determine and standardise the wage structure in the country," he said at a media conference after dropping by at the Minimum Wage Laboratory in Putrajaya today.
He said the laboratory, which is being held from last Monday to Feb 14, would detail the role and scope of the council in line with the government aspiration to raise the minimum pay for workers according to the country's progress.
Besides the eight experts from the World Bank, members of the Senate, Dewan Rakyat, state executive councillors, representatives of workers' unions, employers' representatives, non-governmental organisations, and academicians were also invited to give their views.
A forum for members of the public to give their views will be held on Saturday at the 18th Floor, Menara Perkeso, Jalan Tun Razak, from 2.30pm to 4.30pm.
According to a World Bank study, the salary trend in this country rose only 2.6 percent annually during the last 10 years, although the cost of living in the country continued to rise.
One in three receives below-poverty-line salary
Subramaniam said the Ministry of Human Resources study in 2009 which covered 1.3 million workers in the country showed that 33.8 percent of them received a salary of less than RM700 per month, which was below the poverty line of RM720 per month.
He said the salary of workers in the manufacturing sector, for example the electrical and electronic sectors was RM500-RM550, textiles RM500-RM600, furniture RM550-RM700, plastics RM550-RM650 and rubber gloves RM500-RM650.
As such, said Subramaniam, the standardisation and determination of a new pay structure must be carried out to ensure that the people in the country did not lag behind as the country progressed.
As for the basic pay for security guards, Subramaniam said his ministry had already informed the Security Services Association of Malaysia (PPKKM) to implement the new minimum basic pay scheme which was RM700 beginning Feb 15.
He said the government no longer allowed the recruitment of foreigners as security guards and the number of foreign guards currently was less than 5,000, most of whom were Nepalese nationals.
Subramaniam also refuted allegations that the number of domestic maids from Indonesia coming into the country was still as many as before.
"It's not true that the number of Indonesian maids is still as before. The governments of both countries are still discussing and hope to achieve a solution immediately," he added.
- Bernama
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