Of Malaysian companies, unions and salaries

When an MP lambasts a union for fighting for better corporate governance, you have to start wondering what on Earth is going on.

Recently, Public Accounts Committee deputy chairman Dr Tan Seng Giaw reportedly said our national airline MAS could not survive due to “incredible” demands put forth by its workers' union.

Here’s what I don’t get. Around the world, unions have bad reputation in the press over protests and strikes.

In London recently, the Underground workers' union also went on strike demanding higher wages.

In the United States, teachers have gone on strike against state governments for wrongful treatment on the issue of collective bargaining. Similarly in Malaysia, we saw an outcry from the teachers' union over an issue of assessment.

In the case regarding MAS, the employees demand the immediate removal of management personnel due to bad decision-making. Who can blame them?

After the MH370 and other incidents involving MAS planes, is it an issue with the airline industry as a whole or just our national carrier?

Also, is it due to the workers or the management?

Subsequently, is it because the workers are now underpaid?

Yes, they are. The truth is, MAS employees remain one of the lower paid workers in the airline industry, particularly when it comes to their maintenance crew.

And the only reason they still work with MAS is loyalty. Not to the company, but to their families.

Because it would truly be unfair to root out an entire family to move to the likes of Dubai or Qatar or any of the Emirate states where their pay would be better off.

Let’s face the facts: our companies are greedy and not paying decent wages. And worse, our government knows this but has no idea how to make this work to their advantage.

Unions are there to keep companies honest and ensure their members get a fair share of profits. Unfortunately, the corporate sector has a totally different idea when it comes to who gets the funds.

Public-listed companies would put their shareholders on the first tier to receive profits, while private companies would only give out rewards on “x times your salary” basis, rather than actually taking a look at who needs more.

And nowadays, the employee shares option scheme (Esos) has all died out because it is no longer profitable to sell shares of a GLC to the staff at a discounted price when there are so many public and international funds buying in.

Instead, employees are told to rely on a single wage, hoping that this is enough to sustain their families. If you’re married, congratulations, you can now depend on two salaries instead.

The Edge earlier this year published a piece showing how even RM6,000 was not enough for a single breadwinner to raise a family.

And from personal experience, I can assure you that such a cost is true even for the “unmarried but exclusive” bunch of Malaysians.

And this is why Malaysia actually needs more unions. Unions force companies and governments to direct their profits back to the employees, something that both companies and government sometimes fail to include in their plans.

In Malaysia, our civil service union Cuepacs is vocal in ensuring the comfortable treatment of its members while also ensuring that the service to the people is also up to standard.

And thus far, Cuepacs has kept to its word, particularly in the National Registry Department and the Immigration Department, as shown by how fast my identity card and passport were done last year.

Similarly, the Railwaymen’s Union of Malaysia (RUM), which handles the Komuter and Intercity trains under Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd, has recently been vocal on mismanagement, highlighting that there has been no spending in the maintenance of the railway.

We have many unions in Malaysia and the truth is that most of them push for better treatment not only for its members but also for causes that the public should take note of.

We are a nation with profits making up 67% of our GDP, while employee salaries and wages are below 30%. A so-called “high income nation” puts their people’s income at more than 50% of their GDP. As such, how can our government push for “high income” status when companies are unwilling to fork out better pay?

And while minimum wage is a start, this is not what Malaysians need. Instead, Malaysians need a decent salary with a little extra to ensure they have enough for tough times ahead. – June 17, 2014.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider