Malaysia extends time to hike salaries
Malaysian government has extended the time frame to hike salary of workers engaged in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) till the end of this year.
National Wages Consultative Council issued an order last week saying SMEs may defer minimum wages for foreign workers until December 31, according to the New Straits Time.
Malaysian law has defined SMEs as “sales turnover between Malaysian Ringgit 10 million and Malaysian Ringgit 25 million or full time employees between 51 and 150’’. The SMEs sector has employed about half of total 13.29 million labour force in Malaysia.
The South East Asian country had increased minimum wage of workers from Malaysian Ringgit 546 (Rs 15,330) to Malaysian Ringgit 900 (Rs 25,270) in January.
According to the plan, the salary hike decision should have been enforced in all the enterprises from July. But the delay in implementation of the decision will hit the Nepali migrant workers in Malaysia.
“The decision of the committee will badly affect Nepalis working in Malaysia as large number of Nepalis are employed in the sector,” according to an outsourcer. “The sector has been providing jobs to two-third Nepalis,” he said, adding that a large number of Nepali migrant workers will not get benefit from the salary hike.
About 500,000 Nepalis are believed to be working in Malaysia, the first preferred destination among Nepali foreign job aspirants. The destination has hired about 773,940 in last 15 years. According to Department of Foreign Employment, about 101,509 Nepalis have joined Malaysian jobs in the last eight months of the current fiscal year.
After the decision, migrant workers’’ attraction to Malaysia could drop, said the outsourcer. “Income from Malaysia will decrease that could discourage migrant outflow too,” he said. Currently, around 40 per cent of Nepalis migrant workers have been joining Malaysian jobs.
Meanwhile, Malaysian trade unions have started protesting against the decision made by the committee.
The decision is against the spirit of the Section 60(L) of Employment Act, 1955, said activist and Senator Syed Shahir bin Syed Mohamud. “The government could not discriminate workers based on their industrial set up,” he said.
Article 23(2) of the UN Declaration of Human Rights clearly states that everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
The Malaysian government’s earlier declared position that all workers, including migrant workers, were entitled to minimum wages, which was correct but now, the delay in implementation will be wrong, unjust and discriminatory,” he added.
According to Vide Minimum Wages Order 2012 of 16 July 2012, the Malaysian government had promised Malaysian workers minimum wages from this January, except for employers with five or less workers, who will receive minimum wages from July.
Govt supports returnees
KATHMANDU: The government has provided seed money to returnee women migrant workers to start small business back home. Ministry of Labour and Employment provided the support to 20 women, including a man, amid a function on Monday. Minister for Labour and Employment Hari Prasad Neupane handed over the seed money ranging between Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000 to the returnee migrants to start their business. The money was handed over to the returnee migrants, who had taken skill and entrepreneurship training held by the ministry. UN Women has been providing technical support to the programme that has developed entrepreneurship to 126 returnee women migrant workers.
Published on: 4 April 2013 | The Himalayan Times
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