The landmark collective agreement on the minimum monthly wage for oil palm estate workers is unlikely to eradicate poverty in the plantation sector, an opposition leader said today.

"What the plantation sector needs is not a public relations exercise by the government. Instead it urgently needs a comprehensive restructuring in the wage system and employment structure," Keadilan vice-president Tian Chua said in a press statement to malaysiakini .

On Wednesday, the Malaysian Agricultural Producers Association (Mapa) and the National Union of Plantation Workers (NUPW) signed a collective agreement providing for oil palm estate workers with a minimum monthly wage of RM325 plus other allowances.

Estate workers used to be paid according to a piece-rate system for 26 days a month. They are not paid if they do not turn up for work, as is wont to happen when bad weather prevails.

Tian said that the agreement was a belated response to the dire situation of the plantation workers and it was most disappointing that the coverage only applied to workers of the oil palm plantation, and not rubber and other plantations.

He added that Keadilan, together with its three other coalition partners in Barisan Alternatif, will forge closer cooperation with those in the trade union movement to demand a better deal for the plantation workers.

"The minimum monthly wage will be BA and Keadilan's main campaign for this year's May Day," he said, referring to Labour Day on May 1.

Crumbs from master's table

Meanwhile, the People's Manifesto Initiative, a coalition of 13 non-governmental organisations, welcomed the awarding of the minimum wage to the oil palm estate workers but said that in today's situation, RM325 will not suffice to even provide the basic necessities of a person, let alone a family.

PMI spokesperson Irene Xavier said Mapa's reason that the plantation industry was not doing well is unacceptable "because in the days that the industry was the cornerstone of the Malaysian economy, the workers were given mere crumbs from the master's table".

She added that too little recognition has been given, both by the government and the employers, to the contribution of plantation workers.

The failure of the agreement to cover rubber tappers was also a serious concern as they have a worse deal to start with, Xavier said.

"They are the ones whose wages are subjected to the vagaries of the Malaysian weather. We cannot understand why the employers, government and the NUPW have been unable to correct this situation," she said.

Xavier added that the government should adopt labour standards that will not allow marginalised sectors of workers to be subjected to years of exploitation.