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Masidi (left) receives a souvenir from Simon
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23rd December, 2009
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah cannot implement a minimum wage policy because major global corporations have become more powerful than the government, said Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister, Datuk Masidi Manjun yesterday.
He said the giant corporations are calling the shots in moving their capital from one country to another particularly countries that can offer cheaper labour force thus putting the government in a dilemma.
“The government is facing a dilemma on one hand to attract investments while the other is to provide a decent standard of living for its people,” he said when addressing the MTUC/ILO National Conference yesterday on decent work through promotion of freedom of association and collective bargaining.
He explained Malaysia is not able to ratify the convention on Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining under the International Labour Organisation (ILO) because each country has its own peculiarity and unique economic structure which must be taken into consideration and one size does not fit all.
“We need investments to create jobs and at the same time look after the rights of workers,” he said, adding that countries like Vietnam have emerged as low-cost producing economies which Malaysia is not able to compete.
He said therefore to implement the minimum wage might not be to Malaysia’s advantage and suggested a bandwidth of wage range to be worked out by sector and region to adjust to the cost of living.
In relation, the minister urged local employers to be fair in their compensation to workers and to provide decent working environment.
Employers need to train staff and move up the value chain so that they can pay (the staff) well, he added.
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