Equal work, equal pay

I guess Lim Guan Eng, the former finance minister and now adviser to the Democratic Action Party (DAP), has a soft spot for employers.

His call to exclude migrant workers from the minimum wage and the paltry 2% contribution to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) repeats a position he took in early August 2025. Even then, labour groups criticised it.

Since he has chosen to lend his voice to employers, be they micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) or others, it is apt to remind him of three fundamental issues.

All people are equal

Article 8(1) of the Federal Constitution treats everyone as equal and entitles them to equal protection.

The courts have noted this. In Ahmad Zahri bin Mirza Abdul Hamid v AIMS Cyberjaya Sdn Bhd, the Federal Court took cognisance of Article 10 of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Migrant Workers (Supplementary Provisions) Convention 143 of 1975.

It said Malaysia should promote and guarantee equality of opportunity and treatment between migrant workers and nationals.

Referring to the convention, the court said:

Based on the above reasons we take the view that all workers should be treated with fairness, dignity and equality without distinction whether they are locals or foreigners. This is also consonant with Article 8(1) of the Federal Constitution which essentially provides that all persons are equal before the law and entitled to the equal protection of the law.

his judgment alone should put to rest the flawed argument that Malaysia should adopt discriminatory standards against migrant workers to protect employers.

Legislative protection

Section 69F of the Employment Act 1955 empowers the director general of labour to inquire into and decide any dispute over discrimination in employment.

An employer who fails to comply with the director general’s order faces, on conviction, a fine of up to RM50,000. For a continuing offence, there is a further fine of up to RM1,000 for each day it continues.

Where an employer has signed a collective agreement with a trade union, section 17(1)(b) of the Industrial Relations Act 1967 makes it binding once the Industrial Court takes cognisance of it. It covers all worker employed in the undertaking, now or later.

Industrial Court and other judicial decisions have affirmed that such agreements apply to migrant workers.

International standards

From the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, one fact stands unchallenged – there is no room for discriminatory employment practices against migrant workers. Full stop!

No reasonable person would dispute that people doing the same work must receive the same pay.

The right to equal pay for equal work should never be compromised. Doing so would destroy the foundation of equality, good conscience and fair treatment of workers, whether migrant or local.

Working people need greater protection against the ever-rising cost of living, low and stagnant wages and inadequate retirement savings in the EPF. They do not need more protection for employers.

Seeking such protection for employers is like asking workers to wallow in a vicious low-wage ecosystem so that employers can profit from staying in business.

To even entertain the thought that businesses should be protected by treating migrant workers as second-class employees is heartless, an affront to human dignity and devoid of any sense of justice.

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