Penang urged to set floor pay at RM1,200
He alleged that some employers in the Bayan Lepas Free Trade and Industrial Zone were still offering RM600 as the starting wage, the same amount they offered when the manufacturing hub was launched in 1973.
Hawkeye, FMT
Trade unionist and retired DAP leader Abdul Razak Abdul Hamid today proposed that the minimum wage be set at RM1,200 for employees of the Penang government and its agencies.
He said that would be a more realistic figure than the RM900 set by the federal government and would send out a strong message that Pakatan Rakyat was ready to govern the entire country instead of just a few states.
Abdul Razak, who was once chairman of the Penang chapter of the Malayans Trade Union Congress and served in DAP’s Penang liaison committee until the year 2000, said the floor wage set by Putrajaya was too low to enable workers to contend with the high cost of living.
He said life was particularly tough for blue collar workers in Penang, who were struggling not only to put food on the table but also to find decent lodgings as property prices and rentals continued to rise.
“Many workers continue to live on credit, with a large number of them relying on loan sharks,” he said.
He alleged that some employers in the Bayan Lepas Free Trade and Industrial Zone were still offering RM600 as the starting wage, the same amount they offered when the manufacturing hub was launched in 1973.
He said DAP must use its second term as the governing party in Penang to prove to Malaysians that Pakatan was ready to govern the entire nation under just and democratic principles.
