Union decries low wages in plantations

By Ken Vin Lek - Free Malaysia Today,

PETALING JAYA: Malaysian workers will continue to shun the plantation industry until it pays better wages, according to the National Union of Plantation Workers (NUPW).
“Few locals nowadays see it as lucrative to work in the plantation sector,” said the union’s executive secretary A Navamukundan, who accompanied newly elected Hulu Selangor MP P Kamalanathan yesterday on a tour of plantations in the constituency.
According to NUPW figures, there are about 250,000 plantation workers in Peninsular Malaysia and 65% of them are foreigners.
Under their current agreements with NUPW, plantation owners have to ensure a minimum monthly wage of RM350 for every labourer. However, NUPW is seeking an increase from that amount and the case is currently with the Industrial Court.
“This RM350 per month is meant to act as a safety net; it is not a basic monthly wage,” Navamukundan said.
“For example, in the event that the yield of crops is low and bad weather prevents workers from earning their normal daily wages, the wages will be brought up to RM350 for the month.”
Many parties have argued that the figure is inhumanly low.
Minimum wage needed
The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC), the umbrella body for trade unions in Malaysia, has for some time been demanding a minimum RM900-per-month wage for all workers in the country.
Responding to claims that workers were seeking help from NGOs instead of NUPW because of the latter’s ineffectiveness, Navamukundan said: “Any man with a problem will seek any avenue to get himself heard. If he is a trade union member, he will go to the trade union.”
“We ourselves fought hard to be recognised by plantation companies.”
Last January, NUPW won a court case against Dynamic Plantations Bhd and IOI Corporation Bhd, both of which had refused to recognise it as the representative of their workers in wage negotiations.
Asked how Malaysians may be encouraged to work in the plantation sector, he said: “As long as employers pay the right wages, then more locals will join the industry.”