Nov 15
17
Malaysia Knitting Industry Wants Labour Issues Sewn Up
Local knitting industry worth more than RM4 billion per annum, contribute an impressive 3% to the national GDP.
Malaysia Knitting Manufacturers Association (MKMA) president Tang Chong Chin told MALAYSIA SME that, ‘there are a few big players in the Malaysia knitting manufacturing sector, but for the most part, the overwhelming majority of operators in Malaysia are SME companies.
These include both textile manufacturers and apparel manufacturers. In the Malaysia context, the breakdown is roughly 70% for apparel manufacturers and 30% for textile manufacturers.
Malaysia Budget 2016 announced the increase of minimum wage to RM1,000 for Peninsular Malaysia and RM920 for Sabah and Sarawak recently did not provide grace period of it implementation. It would add a further strain on member’s businesses. ‘Businesses are now having to deal with the GSt, the decline in value of the ringgit, as well as the wage increase.’
Tang said that one suggestion put forward to the government to fix the issue of foreign labour is to make it easier for genuine and law-abiding manufacturers to hire legal foreign workers.
Many SME are forced to hire illegal foreign workers as they are simply unable to hire any through legal channels and they cannot afford to pay levies and fees.
Additionally, the government has imposed many regulation that make it almost impossible for SMEs to hire legal foreign workers which includes regulation on foreign worker ratio, minimum turnover and also various specifications on foreign workers once they are hired.
Article can be view using this link : Engage Issue 170 Malaysia SME