Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Are they trying to deny migrant workers minimum wages?

Published: Wednesday January 16, 2013 MYT 7:39:00 PM
Updated: Wednesday January 16, 2013 MYT 7:47:13 PM

Special committee to find jobs for 50,000 foreign workers at petrol stations


KUALA LUMPUR: The Government has set up a special committee to find jobs for 50,000 foreign workers at petrol stations who are expected to be retrenched due to the recently implemented minimum wage policy.

Human Resource Minister Datuk Seri Dr. S. Subramaniam said that the committee, which is placed under his ministry, would channel the workers into other sectors that could afford to hire them at a minimum salary of RM900 for those working in the Peninsula, and RM800 in Sabah and Sarawak.

“The minimum wage policy is here to stay and we will not back-track,” he told reporters on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Deputy Human Resource Minister Datuk Maznah was reported as saying that the implementation of the policy was expected to cause about 50,000 foreigners working in petrol stations nationwide to lose their jobs this year.

She said that this was because employers, facing an increase in labour costs, would promote self-service.
The monthly salary for a petrol station worker before this was between RM600 to RM700.

Subramaniam said this after making his keynote speech at the 2nd Datacentre Malaysia Conference and Exhibition at the Intercontinental Hotel here.

The two-day conference was attended by some 300 industry players from 15 countries.

The Minister said in his speech that the data centre industry was seen as a major contributor to the country's economy and is expected to contribute RM2.4bil to Malaysia's Gross National Income and create about 13, 290 jobs in the country by year 2020.

“Without a doubt, a thriving data centre industry in Malaysia will also provide the critical infrastructure needed to make the Malaysian digital economy work, in particular low latency from devices to the cloud,” he said, adding that the country's strong economy and stable geographical location made it a suitable data centre hub," he said. - Star, 16/1/2013, Special committee to find jobs for 50,000 foreign workers at petrol stations

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