In defending his Cabinet colleague, Sivakumar said both he and Rafizi were members of the National Economic Action Council (MTEN) where they would discuss the best wage model for the country.
Sivakumar was responding to Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) CEO Syed Hussain Syed Husman taking issue with Rafizi’s announcement of plans to increase wages progressively in the private and public sectors.
Syed Hussain said it was not within the purview of the economy ministry but that of the human resources ministry to handle wage-related policies.
Sivakumar said while the committee that looked into the wages was under the human resources ministry, Rafizi had the right as the economy minister to talk about “what is good for our national economy”.
“So that is not an issue,” Sivakumar told reporters during a visit to the Institut Latihan Perindustrian campus here.
Syed Hussain had also said that Rafizi should consider that in any economy, market forces determine the right price of labour, adding that the minister should not make salary increments mandatory.
However, Sivakumar said that the wage model would also take into account labour productivity, unlike the current model where all workers receive the RM1,500 basic wage rate.
The minister also said that countries like Singapore were using the progressive wage model, with the city-state implementing it in three economic sectors after five years of research.
He also said that the human resources ministry would present a proposal to MTEN in August on the progressive wage model.
“We will study this wage (model) in detail. However, we are still in the initial stage of looking into wage models, which include this progressive approach.
“After we have presented it to MTEN, we will decide from there. We have not decided anything,” he added.
Earlier today, Rafizi said that his ministry would engage with all stakeholders in the implementation of a progressive wage policy.
Consultations would be conducted to gather input and perspectives, he added.
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