The wage deal is a rip-off

The Plantation Workers Support Committee (PWSC) rejects �out rightly� the RM 350 guaranteed wage deal signed by the MAPA and NUPW on 22 April 2003. This deal is a shame and an insult to all the contributions of the plantation workers towards the development of the plantation industry and the country.

This wage deal is a rip-off as it is not able to increase the living standards of the plantation workers and further pushes them into poverty. The figure is way below the poverty line of the country. The current poverty line for a household in Malaysia based on the OPP3 is RM 1200 per household. So what is RM 350 compared to RM 1200?

Furthermore based on the following analysis, the real wages of the rubber tappers or field workers with this RM 350 deal does not increase at all compared to the CPI.

TABLE 1 : Rubber Tappers Wage Movement (1975-2000)
Year	Current average monthly wage (RM)	Real monthly wage in 1967 prices (RM)
1975	189	131
1980	259	144
1985	379	168
1990	336	134
1995	409	135
2000	429	150
2003	350	117

Table 1 shows the wage movement of the rubber tappers since 1975. Based on these figures and also with the RM 350 what is the real wage received by the workers? Well, with the CPI of 297 the real wage for the workers will only be RM 117 if they receive RM 350. What kind of wages is this? Can a family survive with these wages? What significance is a mere 8% -12% increase of wages in RM 11.50 (Daily wages of the last Collective Agreement)? Doesn�t make much difference, just an increase of RM 1.38 the most. What can the rubber tapper of field workers do with these wages? What is so historical about this deal?

The union says that if the yield is good and the workers go to work, they can even earn up to RM 1000 per month. All this is mere lies as the same thing was said when the Palm Oil Collective Agreement was signed on February 2001 where a guaranteed wage was fixed at RM 325. But then when the oil palm harvesters received their wages there was not much difference and there have been estates where their wages dropped due to the new system. So this time around the workers would not buy a similar story.

Furthermore, it has been clearly stated that the daily rated colonial wage system is still maintained whereby wages are not linked to productivity but other factors such as weather and yield which are not determined by the rubber tappers; so why must they bear the risk? Furthermore, the statement by Dato Fong Chan Onn where he mentioned that this system is maintained to cut down on absenteeism among the workers is an insult to the plantation workers after all they have toiled and sweated for the country all these years. This clearly shows that the government, which is also a major shareholder in plantation companies through Perbadanan Nasional Berhad, prioritizes profits more than workers' welfare.

The excuse of economic slow down and recession cannot be used for not giving monthly wages to the plantation workers as it has been clearly proven during the 1997 recession that despite the slow down, the plantation industry has been doing well. Furthermore, the financial results announced by plantation companies such as Golden Hope, Guthrie, Sime Darby and KL Kepong clearly show their profits are increasing as high as seven-fold.

It is a shame for the country that it is not able to provide a decent wage for the plantation workers who have been the backbone of the country�s development even after 45 years of independance. The industry is continuing to keep the plantation community in poverty while the government just looks on.

The plantation community has for the past 150 years been stuck in the chains of poverty. Since the imperialist era and for 45 years after independence, the workers have been continuously exploited and oppressed for the sake of profit. The government, the plantation union and MAPA have not taken concrete steps to improve the standard of living of the plantation community. The workers' struggle for decent monthly wages has been continuously ignored by the government and MAPA.

PRE-TAX PROFITS OF MAJOR COMPANIES (2002)
Company	(RM million)
Golden Hope Plantations	RM 118.0
Kumpulan Guthrie Bhd.	RM 342.4
IOI Corp Bhd.	RM 272.2
Sime Darby	RM 374.3
KL Kepong Bhd	RM 273.2

If the plantation industry is not able to provide a decent living standard for the plantation community, such as monthly wage and proper housing, then it is better for the government to shut down the plantation industry. There is no need to keep alive an industry, which continues to keep a part of the Malaysian community in poverty as it has done for the past 150 years or the past three generations. The government should shut down the plantation industry, which exploited its workers for the past 150 years and continues exploiting them and divide the plantation land and give it to the generation of workers who have toiled hard for the development of the country. This is the only solution to this century old problem.

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