Santiago says the wage council was not needed to realise a minimum wage. — file pic
KUALA LUMPUR, June 22 — The National Wages Consultative Council Bill is "a waste of time", said Klang MP Charles Santiago today, adding that the Ministry of Human Resources was already empowered to put in place a wage floor.
"The minister can implement minimum wages already. All he has to have is a technical committee that can advise him on the wages and he can sign on the minimum wages and it can be implemented," Santiago told reporters in Parliament today.
"Thus the setting-up of a National Wages Consultative Council (NWCC) is redundant, a waste of public funds and it introduces another bureaucratic layer in wage determination."
Despite widespread concerns raised by numerous employers, Putrajaya went ahead and tabled the highly-anticipated NWCC bill in Parliament yesterday, paving the way for the implementation of a minimum wage policy in the country.
According to the bill, the NWCC's role will be to advise the government on all matters related to minimum wages, including its development at the international level as well as recommendations to the government on minimum wage rates and coverage according to sectors, types of employment and regional areas, among others.
The council will also consult the public on minimum wage rates and coverage; collect and analyse data and information and conduct research on wages and the socioeconomic indicators; co-ordinate, supervise and evaluate the impact of its implementation; and review the minimum wage order, among other matters.
Santiago also said the bill does not define the minimum wage, unlike in Thailand, South Korea and Indonesia, where three factors are taken into account when determining the level of minimum wage, which are food, non-food and savings.
In South Korea, he pointed out that in fixing the minimum wage, the minister of labour takes into account the cost of living, the wages of comparable workers and labour productivity, among other factors.
He also said that the council should be autonomous and independent of the government.
"We feel the government should not be represented in the council," he said, which should be similar to the South Korean model that works "very well."
He said the council should be represented by three groups: employers, employees and an independent group comprising of a mix of both groups whose members are elected by the council.
"Our proposal is once the recommendation is made to the minister, if he's not happy with it, the final decision should rest with the council and not the minister. So therefore, you are making the council autonomous and independent of the government. I think this is important," he said.
He gave the example of the government's promise to raise the wages of security guards to between RM1,100 and RM1,300 by July of last year.
But he pointed out that they had scrapped the idea, pushed it to January 1 and changed it to between RM500 and RM700.
"So therefore, we feel a political appointee such as the minister cannot withstand the political pressure and therefore, he has to favour the employers. So therefore, you take the responsibility away from the minister and give it to the council, who is made up of employers, employees and a third group of independent people who are appointed or elected by a rotation system by employers and employees.
"The minister will be under pressure and typical of Malaysia, we have seen this over and over again, that the minister is subservient to the business masters," he said.
Santiago pointed out that in the past 15 years, the average wage increase for the average Malaysian worker has been 2.6 per cent.
"This bill does not address the issue at all, so therefore, in that sense the minister has failed and having talked about this for almost one year, and having had many, many lab sessions, it is clear at the end of the lab sessions, if this is the product, then it is a total zero.
"The government of Malaysia has failed Malaysian workers who are trying to push for a decent living wage. This bill does not promise a decent living wage for Malaysians," he said.
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