Minimum Wages

How the Hell (pun intended) did a blog entry looking for a child to play the part of the Devil's son evolve into a minimum wage issue?!!

Yes, this happened on my tagboard, so I felt compelled to address the latest incarnation of the issue on in a main entry.

Why don’t we have a minimum wage system in Malaysia?

If I remember correctly, the last time it was seriously brought up was back in 2003 on Labour Day. And of course, it got shot down. I’m not going to wax lyrical here, but I’m gonna highlight in short the reasons why a minimum wage system hasn’t been implemented:

Foreign workers – The two main industries Malaysian workers are generally loath to participate in are the construction and plantation industry. As a result, Malaysia takes in a significant amount of foreigners to work in these sectors. Consequently, the salary paid is actually lower than that paid for the local equivalent. If minimum wages were to be introduced, the cost incurred would end up being heaps more than the current situation. And we can’t have that can we, oh great and powerful corporations??

Strength of unions – ha ha ha, the problem here is that there’s a ridiculous LACK of it here. The MTUC has virtually no lobbying power whatsoever.

Economics – If a general worker’s salary increased, supposedly a person in a much higher position would ask for more too, as in a chain effect (regardless of how much the disparity was in the 1st place!!) And as such, Malaysia’s competitiveness in the World Economy would be affected. Yes, apparently we’re more concerned with our competitiveness in the World than the welfare of our lower-income people.

Yet, somehow, despite our Govt’s refusal to implement a minimum wage system, costs continue to increase. Fuel is a main factor, which gives off a chain effect too!!! The argument that "WE’RE STILL CHEAPER than other countries" just doesn’t have much weight anymore, give me a break. Oh, and in the news today, our beloved Transport Minister has just warned us to be ready for increasing toll rates, simply because it’s in the contract between the Govt and the Highway companies, despite highways being a public amenity!

It seems all appears to be well with the big guys. Yet the small fries still need to be taken into account. And in the end, the small fries make the big guys… And the Govt needs to remember this sometimes...

So, yes, Tech and Michelle , you are both right!