Media Statement
Plantation workers' basic wage below official poverty line
It is also well short of the RM750 that the plantation workers were demanding. Although much has been said about the other allowances - which depend upon a host of other variables - that the plantation workers are entitled to, it is the basic wage that counts.
But to agree on a basic wage that is below the poverty line is scandalous. The National Union of Plantation Workers has let its workers down by agreeing to a paltry RM325. We would like to know how they arrived at this miserly figure. Where are all those studies? What minimum wage did those studies recommend?
More disappointing is the fact that the rubber plantation workers have been left out even though their plight is worse than the oil palm workers'. We urge the government to immediately implement a decent minimum wage for rubber estate workers and not to prolong their misery. While the authorities drag their feet, the major plantation firms have been quietly retrenching workers and converting rubber estates to other use in states such as Kedah, Perak, Selangor and Malacca. By the time MAPA and the government are ready to give the rubber estate workers a fixed monthly wage, there will be few rubber estate-workers left and the majority would have lost out.
It is a case of too little too late for these workers, whose families have worked for generations in the estates without enjoying a fixed monthly wage. They now face eviction from their estate houses with meagre compensation ranging from RM3,000 to RM7,000 after many years of toiling for their firms and for the nation's economic development. Where do they go with that pathetic amount? The government must step in and amend the laws to raise retrenchment benefits, provide alternative housing and retrain these workers.
It is not as if the plantation firms are losing money and cannot afford to pay more wages and compensation. They rake in millions of ringgit each year in profits and they can jolly well afford to pay their workers more. We are talking about basic human dignity here, about being responsible employers. But then we all know that many of these firms have connections with vested interests whose only interest is maximising profits.
Although we are disappointed with the miserly RM325, we recognise that the decision to award a fixed minimum basic wage vindicates the long, hard struggle of the workers to obtain a fixed salary. The decision is the result of the workers' relentless pressure on the government. The government simply ran out of all excuses to deny them a fixed wage. Aliran salutes the workers for their direct involvement in the struggle for more favourable terms and conditions of employment.
Let us not forget that the issue of monthly wages is not the only woe facing plantation workers. Many other problems remain unresolved. These include the sorry state of estate Tamil schools, the lack of will to implement a proper home ownership scheme for estate workers, paltry retrenchment benefits, poor healthcare and sanitary conditions including the lack of piped water in many estates, and exposure to pesticides.
If anything, the plantation workers' minimum basic wage should be much, much higher to compensate for these disproportional risks and the hardship they have to endure. But their pleas for a decent living wage have fallen on deaf ears. What kind of caring society are we?
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We find it hard to celebrate the news that oil palm plantation workers will finally be given a minimum monthly wage. For one thing, the basic monthly wage of RM325 agreed upon is below even the official poverty line.