PETALING JAYA | There are employers already paying their workers the proposed minimum salary of RM1,500 despite it not being mandatory yet, according to human resources minister M Saravanan.
He said while the government is still reviewing and finalising the new minimum wage, Aeon Co (M) Bhd and Westports Holdings Bhd have implemented it.
Expressing appreciation to the two companies, Saravanan urged others to emulate them.
“I would like to call on other employers to take the approach of Aeon and Westports in offering employees salaries in excess of the current minimum wage of RM1,200,” he said in a statement today.
He said the two companies have set a good example when it came to their employees’ troubles, even in the face of the current economic situation due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Aeon had previously announced raising the minimum wage of its employees effective Jan 1. It currently has 11,000 employees across 202 supermarkets and other business outlets, according to its website.
Separately, in a statement last month, port operator and cargo management company Westports said it recorded a net profit of 23.5% to RM808.22 million during the financial year ending December 2021, an increase from the RM654.49 million it recorded the year before.
Saravanan had previously said a minimum wage of “around RM1,500 a month” is expected to be implemented before the end of this year. It is awaiting Cabinet approval, he said.
However, the Malaysian Employers Federation said the proposed increase would kill businesses, which are still in economic recovery mode.
Its president, Syed Hussain Syed Husman, said most businesses are not in a position to implement the proposed new minimum wage because they are still reeling from the economic shock brought about by the pandemic and the floods at the end of last year.
The minimum wage was last increased in February 2020, from RM1,100 to RM1,200 a month.
