Coffee shop patrons to take the brunt from minimum wage policy

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SIBU: Coffee shops here have apparently found an easy way out from the impact of the minimum wage policy which is due for implementation next year by getting their patrons to absorb the impact.

Sibu Coffee Shop and Restaurant Owners’ Association chairman Tong Ing Kok Thursday said unless an amicable solution could be found at the eleventh hour, they might be forced to pass the cost to consumers to stay afloat.

“Over the years due to the global economic meltdown, our businesses had been hard hit and the global hike in prices of raw materials further compounded our woe.

“With the enforcement of the minimum wage policy next year, we could no longer absorb the higher cost of operations
as our profit continues to dwindle.

“To stay afloat, we may be forced to hike prices of drinks as we are left with no alternatives,” Tong told The Borneo Post when asked about their preparedness for the policy implementation next year.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has said that the minimum wage for workers in the peninsula is set at RM900 per month while workers in Sarawak, Sabah and Labuan get at least RM800 each per month.

Tong said under the minimum wage policy, coffee shop workers would actually be getting about RM1,000 per month.

Asked for clarification, he said they needed to pay their workers’ lodging and food.

“Many workers are from outstation, and we need to pay for their lodging and food. These expenses come to more than RM300 a month.

“Therefore, if that is taken into consideration, then a coffee shop worker earns about RM1,100 per month. We do not mind paying higher salary as we also understand the cost of living had gone up compared to the 80s and 90s.

“But we are tearing our hair out to sustain our business as our profits are dwindling and still reeling from the impact of global economic slowdown,” he lamented.

Other industries such as hotels too will feel the pinch when the policy comes into effect next year.

In October, Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) Sarawak Chapter’s liaison officer for Sibu Roy Ting lamented a slight adjustment in room rates was inevitable as the cost of wages would be increased by some 20 per cent then.

Ting, who is also Sarawak Central Region Hotels Association assistant secretary, opined that the implementation of the policy would exert pressure on the hotel industry here.

During the recent ‘Public Seminar on National Minimum Wages Order 2012 and Minimum Retirement Age Bill 2012’ in Kuching, Merdeka Palace Hotel and Suites human resource manager Dayang Rokaiyah had raised the point that most hotels in the state had applied for deferment of the implementation of minimum wage policy.

They were concerned about their ability to sustain business in view of the increase in floor wage.