At the Seminar on 'Minimum Wage Policy Towards Progressive Wage and Madani Economy' held at the Premier Hall of Faculty of Social Science and Humanity (FSSK), National University of Malaysia (UKM), Senator Syed Shahir Syed Mohamud, Chairman of the Workers Institute of Empowerment Selangor (WISE) strongly recommended the Government for immediate ratification of ILO Convention No. 131 on Minimum Living Wages Fixing that would enable the workers who earn them to afford a decent minimum wage standards.
He said, “It is a fundamental part of social justice essential to the Madani Economy. The time has come for Malaysia to adopt this ILO-C131 providing protection for wage earners against unduly low wages, which focus to the needs of developing countries. Each and every member of ILO which ratifies this Convention undertakes to establish a proper system of minimum wages. The competence authority shall agree, in full consultation with the representative of the government, organisations of employers and the workers concerned.”
According to Employee Wages Statistics (Formal Sector) Report showed that 10.2% of the 6.45 million formal workers were paid a salary below the minimum wage of RM1,500 in March 2023. The majority of Malaysians were paid low wages, whereby 82% of the 6.45 million formal workers were paid less than RM5,000 a month and 35% of the number were paid RM2,000 and below in March 2023. This data confirmed over 6 million workers are affected. The workers wanted living wages to purchase cost of food in the market.
The New Industrial Master Plan (NIMP) 2030 was unveiled by Prime Minister Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim has set the goal to increase salaries in the manufacturing sector within the time-frame by 2030 by adopting a progressive wage model (PWM) for worker from RM2,000 to RM4,000. The PWM for our fresh graduates and skilled workers should be higher.
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