GEORGE TOWN – The Malaysian Budget and Business Hotel Association has lauded the move by the Human Resources Ministry to exempt the hospitality sector from having to comply with the revised minimum wage structure of RM1,500.
By May 1, the minimum wage will be raised by RM300 from the current sum of RM1,200.
Its deputy president Sri Ganesh Michiel said that although tourism has resumed, it will take time for the owners and managements of hotels to recover from some two years of lockdowns, where tourism practically came to a standstill.
He said that the new minimum wage policy, although regarded as beneficial to workers, should be considered with the plight of employers in sectors most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic in mind.
“A minimum wage of RM1,500 can be put on hold for now. We need to revive our businesses first. Eventually, once we fare well, there is no reason why the minimum wage can be incorporated into the hospitality sector,” he said in a statement.
Chairman of the Perlis/Kedah chapter of the Malaysia Association of Hotels, Eugene Alan Dass, shared his opinion, saying that the priority is now on reengaging workers as there is an acute shortage of hoteliers.
More steps must be made to entice people to work in the industry, but to expect hotels to pay them more may be asking too much for now, said Dass.
“We have hardly shifted into our fast gears. It takes time to revive the industry and, in the meanwhile, the hotels can do with any steps to cushion the financial losses which they have incurred in the past three years,” said Dass in an interview.
MTUC: all should enjoy minimum wage, irrespective of industry
The Penang branch of the Malaysian Trades Union Congress has disagreed with this assertion by hoteliers and the ministry, saying that they are misguided in allowing informal sectors such as tourism to be exempted from adopting the revised minimum wage.
“It would create mismatches in the job market,” said its Penang secretary K. Veeriah.
He said that it is a misplaced theory that those who suffered significant losses from Covid-19 should be excused from implementing the new minimum wage scheme.
In the first instance, the underlying objective of a national minimum wage is premised on the principle that all wage earners, irrespective of the economic sectors that they are involved in, ought to be paid a decent minimum wage.
This is for the simple reason that any wage below the national minimum wage would only result in a mismatch of minimum wage levels between one economic sector and others.
“Common sense will dictate that our government cannot be cherry picking on the fundamental issue of a national minimum wage. In our view a national minimum wage must be enforced holistically and not selectively,” Veeriah said in a statement.
“Obviously, we have inherited a government that seems to be beholden to the employers at the expense of the grossly underpaid working-class population,” he added.
Based on population demographics, the most vulnerable citizens are those who are trapped in the B40 and M40 income segments.
By exempting them from the benefits of the minimum wage of RM1,500, the government stands accused of being inconsiderate to their financial plight, Veeriah stressed.
Faced with the ever-escalating cost of living, they will continue to suffer financial stress thanks to the baseless selective implementation of the wage scheme, he said. – The Vibes, April 25, 2022.
