Paying workers below minimum wage a travesty of justice and logic, says PM
Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak
KUCHING: Many employers are still defying the government’s directive to pay their workers the minimum wage despite being granted a grace period to do so last year.
Malaysia had introduced the Minimum Wage Policy in July last year, and employers were given until early this year to begin complying with the new regulation.
Several employers here who asked not to be named still lamented that they were not making enough profit to pay all their workers the minimum wage when asked yesterday if they had complied with the ruling.
The foot dragging by employers in paying the minimum wage of RM800 in Sarawak and Sabah and RM900 in Peninsular Malaysia has riled Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak who took them to task for their tardiness.
Bernama quoted Najib as saying in his keynote address at the Invest Malaysia 2013 in Kuala Lumpur yesterday employers denying workers the minimum wage despite registering huge profits was travesty of both logic and justice.
“If we wish to become a more developed and more inclusive society, employee welfare must be prioritised. I ask all employers to commit to paying their workers a living wage,” he said.
Najib pointed out the regulation was introduced last year and employers had been given ample time to adjust to the new salary requirement.
“We must ensure that we are providing equitable employment conditions across the workforce,” he said.
The prime minister also called for gender equality in Malaysia’s businesses, saying he encouraged all public-listed and government-linked companies to make full voluntary disclosure of female participation rates, from the board level down.
Najib also urged companies to use the incentives in the federal budget to offer childcare facilities at the workplace in order to enable female employees to balance their work and family commitments.
He said by using the incentives to offer childcare facilities, Malaysians would all have the same opportunity to progress in their careers.