PETALING JAYA | The head of the Mydin hypermarket chain has urged the government to explain how businesses will benefit from the increase in minimum wages to be enforced from May 1.
Mydin’s managing director, Ameer Ali Mydin, said he agrees in principle to the increase from RM1,200 to RM1,500 a month, but no proper analysis on the spillover effects had been provided.
“We know that people are struggling to survive; if people cannot survive, then businesses that rely on the people also cannot survive. But so far, there has been no explanation from the government. If there was, it would be easier for businesses to accept it,” he told FMT.
He said Mydin’s wage bill would go up by RM25 million a year, and asked if the government understood that the wage increase would lead to increased costs for businesses, and increases in the price of goods.
However, businesses were more worried about a labour shortage, he said. He called for faster approvals of applications to bring in foreign workers.
Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers president Soh Thian Lai said there were several stages involved in the application process.
“We hope it could be shortened where possible, to allow the industry to quickly bring in the workers,” Soh said.
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