KUALA LUMPUR: Sime Darby Plantation Bhd
has raised the minimum wage of its workers in Sabah and Sarawak to RM1,000 per month in an effort to streamline its rate of minimum wage across the country.
"With immediate effect, SDP’s plantation workers in the East Malaysia states of Sabah and Sarawak will now benefit from a wage structure that is equal to their counterparts in Peninsular Malaysia," it said in a press statement.
The current minimum wage for East Malaysia is set at RM920 a month.
The company said the initiative to standardise its minimum wage structure was in anticipation of the new national rate the government will enforce in 2019.
“Sime Darby Plantation supports the government’s latest decision on the national minimum wage and we are looking forward to implementing a new rate of RM1,050 when it comes into force in January 2019,” said Tan Sri Mohd Bakke Salleh, Sime Darby Plantation's executive deputy chairman and managing director.
According to the statement, plantation workers at Sime Darby Plantation operations throughout the country also enjoy productivity-based income incentives, as well as many other free and subsidised benefits provided by the company.
These include, among others, free accommodation, potable water, supply of rice, subsidised electricity, free medical treatment for employees and their immediate dependants, and various amenities such as school bus transport for employees' children and recreational facilities.
It added that the company is integrating new technologies and innovations into its operations to increase productivity and upskill the workforce.
"This will ultimately result in the increase of its workers’ income and transform SDP’s plantations into a hi-tech and more attractive place to work for the younger generation."
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