MORE than 100 members from the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) demonstrated outside Parliament today demanding a higher minimum wage than the RM1,050 approved by Putrajaya recently.

Led by MTUC secretary-general J. Solomon, they submitted a memorandum to Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran, who came out to meet the protestors and invited them for a discussion.

Last month, the government announced an RM50 increase for the minimum wage in the peninsula, raising it to RM1,050 which workers slammed as a measly token that fell short of the RM1,500 promised in the Pakatan Harapan election manifesto.

The new minimum wage also applies to Sabah and Sarawak, which was RM920 previously, to standardise the wage nationwide.

The minimum wage was first set in 2013 at RM900 for the peninsula and RM800 for Sabah Sarawak and last raised in 2016 before this round.

The protest today comprised members from labour-related civil groups as well as Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM). – October 17, 2018.