Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe by Email PUTRAJAYA: The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) plans to stage pickets at various places in the country if the Government does not respond positively to its request for a minimum wage and cost of living allowance (cola) for private sector employees.
It has given the Government a one-week ultimatum to respond.
It plans to picket simultaneously in Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya, Bangi, Shah Alam, Klang, Johor, Kuching and Penang next Monday between 5pm and 6.30pm.
It is seeking legislation to fix a minimum wage of RM900 as well as cola at RM300.
MTUC president Syed Shahir Syed Mohamud and secretary-general G. Rajasekaran were among nine people who presented a five-page memorandum to the Prime Minister’s senior private secretary, Ahmad Yaakob, at 11.30am yesterday.
Syed Shahir said he was told that Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is in Russia and would be returning only next week.
“The picket will go on as scheduled,” he said.
Syed Shahir told reporters that 40% of the 10 million workforce in the private sector were earning salaries below the poverty income level of RM691 per month and that it was timely for their request to be fulfilled now that the civil service had been given a pay rise and increased cola.
“The minimum salary in the civil service should be a benchmark for the private sector to follow,” he said, citing an example of a hospital attendant who had initially earned RM490 and was now earning RM600 salary and RM300 cola, amounting to RM900.
