To be effective in tackling poverty wages, a living wage has to be mandatory and basic trade union rights should be restored so workers can protect themselves from exploitative employers.
– John McDonnell, British politician
The issue of foreign workers and low salaries in our state is not going to be resolved — not anytime soon or in the near future.
Let me get this straight: a lot of people — employers in particular — are not going to be happy with what I write this week, but someone has to highlight the plight of local workers.
But first, let’s look into the issue of illegal workers. This is a never-ending problem.
Why do foreign workers enter Sarawak illegally to seek jobs? Simple, they know it’s easy to enter the state via the numerous porous routes or jalan tikus along the Sarawak-Kalimantan border which spans more than 1,000 kilometres.
Then there are unscrupulous employers who are ever ready to hire these illegals. Business organisations will not think twice about hiring them because they come cheap and are exploitable.
There have been cases where some of these illegal workers have not been paid their salaries for months.
Employers in Sarawak should stop harbouring and hiring illegals just because they don’t command high wages. Companies are just looking at maximising profits, without considering the plight of the local workers — and health issues where the Covid-19 pandemic is prevalent across the border.
A local news portal yesterday highlighted a case of an Indonesian labourer who had a valid work permit despite the fact that he committed offences by entering the state through a jalan tikus and abused his work permit by getting himself hired by another firm. The work permit was approved for him to work only for the company stated in the permit.
The authorities should penalise the company for hiring a worker by not going through the properly channel. I guess the company took the easy way out to cut down on costs of having to apply for a proper work permit.
Like I mentioned earlier, so long as there are business entities willing to hire illegals, the problem of illegals in the state is not going to be resolved. And as long as there are foreigners — legal or otherwise — the issue of low wages will continue to haunt locals.
Most foreigners are not even paid the minimum wages. For example, the minimum wage payable to an employee (foreigner or local) hired in a place of employment in city council or municipal council areas is RM1,200.
And the minimum wage for an employee working in places other than city council or municipal council areas is RM1,100.
But tell me, how many — legal as well as illegal workers — are paid the minimum wage?
When the Minimum Wages Order 2020 was enforced in February this year, employers nationwide painted a grim picture by predicting 300,000 businesses would have to close shop if the minimum wage was implemented. But this fear is now unfounded.
The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) last year said minimum wage increases would not lead to higher outward remittances by foreign workers.
The Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) had claimed that higher minimum wage would result in an additional RM2.5 billion annual remittances out of the country by foreign workers.
According to statistics, foreign workers repatriate RM34 billion annually. This figure does not take into account remittances by illegal foreign workers.
MTUC Sarawak secretary Andrew Lo was quoted by local newspapers as saying that local companies should curb their addiction to foreign workers whom they can control, manipulate and exploit.
Sarawak employers must realise that a higher minimum wage will facilitate a high-income-high-productivity workforce.
It’s about time they invested in innovation and smarter manpower planning and stop being dependent on low-skill foreign workers. A trained and reasonably paid workforce will increase local entrepreneurs’ competitiveness in a global economy.
If employers are only willing to pay peanuts, they should be prepared to get monkeys. Don’t sulk if these underpaid workers don’t give their best!
It’s no point to create thousands of jobs, especially in the timber and oil palm industries, only to hire foreign workers. According to reports, the oil palm industry hires more than 80 percent of foreign workers, and many are only paid minimum wages, despite some working for more than 10 years.
One of the reasons why Sarawakians are driven to seek employment outside Sarawak is the low salary. And the reason behind this is that employers prefer cheap foreign workers to locals.
So, the ball is in the court of the employers. Change before it’s too late.
