The struggle for a minimum wage for private sector workers will continue until the government wakes up and starts being more humane towards the plight of the low-income group.

"It's all about being human. We must not allow anyone to be earning a wage that is considered below poverty level," MTUC president Syed Shahir Syed Mohamud told malaysiakini in an interview.

"As a fellow human being, are we not going to care for others as long as we ourselves are all right? Or are we going to help those who are in difficulties?" he said in explaining the principle behind his fight for minimum wage.

He said the RM900 minimum wage is not an unreasonable figure. It barely covers the basic necessities of a worker.

"What is RM900 now? It is just enough for us to live on to the next day. We are not asking a big amount that will cause the economy to collapse." Syed Shahir stressed.

Citing how profitable businesses also underpaid their workers, the MTUC leader said there is even a bank that made RM4 billion last year but pay the basic of RM630 for their non-clerical staff.

"Pay them decently. If we let the market forces decide, these people will be left hopeless and helpless," he added.

Problems of migrants

Asked whether the minimum wage would also cause unemployment, Syed Shahir responded, "At the moment, we have more than 2.6 million migrant workers in this country. They are paid between RM500-RM700. Our own citizens are not willing to work due to the kind of salary offered to them.

"But if minimum wage is implemented, there would be less unemployment because our local workers would replace these migrant workers," he explained.

However, Syed Shahir reiterated that he was not against migrant workers but there were problems due to the influx of these workers that the government should address.

"We are not against migrant workers. In fact, we've fighting for them as well. But we need to look into the issue of who gives out the permit to bring migrant workers in, for what reasons, for how long. All these pose problems.

"This is like another lucrative business. You have a permit to bring people from outside, you are rich already," he added.

Earlier this week, the government announced that it was unable to meet the demand of MTUC and the workers it represented.

The 'no-go' from the government will not deter Syed Syahir from continuing his fight.

"Whether they are going to implement minimum wage or not is another issue. But on our part, we will continue to pursue the matter. We cannot achieve our goal if we are not seriously working towards it. If you look at history, we got the eight-hour work day through our persistent struggles," he said.

Pickets may contnue

On the next course of action, the MTUC president said, "We will discuss the matter at our next general council. We are meeting on July 19 to deliberate further on the reaction of the government to our proposal."

On whether he thought the nationwide pickets MTUC held last month were effective in achieving the union's goal, Syed Shahir replied, "We are an organisation with more than half a million members. We deserve to be treated like one.

"We had submitted our proposal for minimum wage to the government in the most civilised manner and told them that we wanted a positive reply. Until June 17, there was no positive reply. So we just decided to hold an assembly to express our discontent towards the attitude of the government," he said.

In view of the government's latest reaction to the minimum wage demand, Syed Shahir did not rule out the possibility of another picket.

"We might continue picketing," he added.

In another development, PKR deputy president Dr Syed Husin Ali described the rejection of the proposal as testimony that the government does not have the plight of the low income workers close to its heart.

"Surely the government knows that workers who would be affected by a minimum wage bill would be Malay. About a third of the Malays employed are at the bottom of the occupational hierarchy.

Three questions

"If the government is really serious about closing the inter-ethnic income gap, an effective way to do so would be to see that those at the bottom get better income - not screaming and shouting about shares in companies and ownership of commercial buildings," he said in a statement today.

Syed Husin also posed three questions on the government's argument that small enterprises cannot afford the minimum wage requested by MTUC (RM900 basic and RM300 cost of living allowance).

  1. Does the government know how many small enterprises there are and what proportion of the workers are employed by them.

  2. Whether such low productivity and low-wage enterprises contribute significantly to the country's development and if it is more beneficial in the long run to allow them to continue.

  3. If it is necessary, what kind of mechanisms can be adopted to help them survive.

"Actually, the argument that small enterprises will be adversely affected by minimum wage provides excuse and cover for the government to protect the interests of big and giant companies, both local and foreign-owned.

"What is stopping the government from ensuring that these companies accept minimum wage? It is public knowledge that these companies instead prefer migrant workers who can be paid lower than local workers," the PKR leader added.