Umur persaraan 64 tahun belum dipersetujui k'jaan

Kenaikan had umur persaraan pekerja sektor swasta sehingga 64 tahun adalah dicadangkan oleh Kongres Kesatuan Sekerja Malaysia (MTUC) dan bukan pandangan rasmi kerajaan, kata Menteri Sumber Manusia, Datuk Dr S Subramaniam.

Beliau berkata pada masa ini, kerajaan masih dalam peringkat perbincangan dengan wakil pekerja dan majikan bagi menggubal Rang Undang-Undang Umur Persaraan Minimum Swasta.

"Had umur sehingga 64 tahun adalah pandangan MTUC. Ia belum dipersetujui oleh kerajaan. Mereka telah kemukakan pelbagai cadangan tetapi akhirnya keputusan akan dibuat dengan mengambil kira pandangan semua pihak.

"Proses untuk menggubal akta itu sudah mula dibuat dan kita harap ia boleh diselesaikan segera seterusnya boleh dilaksanakan secepat mungkin," katanya kepada Bernama di pejabatnya di Kuala Lumpur, semalam.

Subramaniam berkata rang undang-undang itu digubal kerana berpendapat bahawa had umur persaraan pada 55 tahun sudah tidak relevan sekarang memandangkan rakyat Malaysia kini lebih sihat dan masih mampu bekerja pada usia tersebut.

"Mereka bersara pada umur 55 tahun, tetapi pada umur itu mereka masih sihat, cerdas dan boleh bekerja. Usia pekerja-pekerja di Malaysia kini lebih panjang berbanding pada masa dulu," katanya.

Beliau berkata kenaikan had umur persaraan juga dapat membantu jaringan sosial dan kebajikan pekerja di mana mereka mampu memperolehi pendapatan pada usia tua selain menambah caruman di Kumpulan Wang Simpanan Pekerja (KWSP) untuk masa depan mereka.

"Kalau golongan pertengahan dan bawahan, caruman mereka di KWSP tidak mencukupi untuk jangka masa panjang. Bila mereka sudah bersara pada usia 55 tahun ada yang masih mencari kerja.

"Sebab itu perlu ada perubahan bahawa rakyat akan kerja lebih lama dan diberi gaji lebih lama untuk pastikan mereka dapat pendapatan untuk tanggung keperluan mereka," katanya.

Gaji minimum
Dalam perkembangan lain, Subramaniam berkata kerajaan menyasarkan agar pelaksanaan gaji minimum sektor swasta dapat dilaksanakan pada awal tahun depan setelah anggota Majlis Perundingan Gaji Kebangsaan dilantik dan mula bermesyuarat esok.

"Pengumuman mengenai gaji minimum akan dibuat sebelum hujung tahun ini dan mungkin sedikit masa diperlukan untuk majlis membuat persiapan, mungkin awal tahun depan dapat kita laksanakan," katanya.

Beliau berkata seramai 25 orang akan dilantik menganggotai Majlis itu yang terdiri daripada seorang pengerusi, timbalan pengerusi serta setiausaha, masing-masing lima wakil dari pihak kerajaan dan bebas serta masing-masing enam wakil dari wakil pekerja yang dicadangkan MTUC dan wakil majikan yang dicadangkan Persekutuan Majikan Malaysia (MEF).

Lima wakil kerajaan ialah dari Kementerian Sumber Manusia, Kementerian Kewangan, Kementerian Perdagangan Antarabangsa dan Industri, Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam dan Unit Perancang Ekonomi manakala wakil bebas terdiri daripada pihak badan bukan kerajaan, institusi pengajian tinggi serta institusi yang mempunyai kaitan dengan pekerja dan gaji.

"Mereka akan diberi tanggungjawab untuk mengkaji gaji minimum dan cadangan itu akan disampaikan kepada kementerian sebelum diteliti oleh kerajaan.

“Sekiranya semua pihak setuju kita akan umumkan dan jadikan ia gaji minimum kebangsaan," kata Subramaniam.

- Bernama

Private sector retirement age to go up

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 26 — Private sector employees will be allowed to work until they are 64, with a minimum mandatory retirement age of 60 under a new law being drafted by the government.
The Private Sector Retirement Age Act will mandate retirement at 60, with an option for a four-year extension.

“This means that the retirement age will be raised from 55 to 60. A technical committee has met two or three times with the last coming just before Hari Raya,” Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) secretary-general Abdul Halim Mansor told The Malaysian Insider.

The Malaysian Insider understands that the change, which will benefit six million workers, will also require an amendment to the Employment and Employees Provident Fund Acts.

It is also understood that except for one employers’ representative, there has been unanimous agreement on the proposal.

Although the matter is being refined by the technical committee, Halim said the MTUC wants the welfare and benefits of employees to be given priority.

“We ask the government to take into account the shortcomings of the Employment Act when laws on private sector retirement age are introduced,” he said.

The private sector has followed the civil service’s original retirement age of 55 as there is no law mandating a retirement age.

Although the government has since raised the retirement age for civil servants to 58, the private sector has not followed suit.

MTUC has previously pressed the government to extend the retirement age to 60.

When I’m 64

Private sector workers can burst into song before December
KUALA LUMPUR: Private sector employees turning 55 in December can expect good news from the government soon.

A technical committee is fine-tuning a draft of the Private Sector Retirement Age Bill, expected to be passed before December, that will allow employees to work until the age of 64.


Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam said the committee, which includes the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) and Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF), had agreed in principle to the bill.


“We will announce the appropriate retirement age with the passing of the bill in Parliament. This is in response to proposals to raise the retirement age from 55 to 60, with an option of a four-year extension.”

Dr Subramaniam said there were differing views from MEF on the proposal,

initiated by the government, to raise the retirement age of private sector workers, but all quarters were agreeable to it.

He said the government had raised the proposal considering that people lived longer nowadays and were productive even after retirement.

He said the new act was necessary as the retirement age of private sector employees had originally followed the civil service retirement age, which had been raised from 55 to 58.


Meanwhile, the Employees Provident Fund is hoping the retirement age for private sector employees is raised to 60 in the coming budget.

Chief executive officer Tan Sri Azlan Zainol said Malaysians needed to save for a 20-year retirement period compared with a short one 60 years ago.

“There are two issues the government needs to address when implementing an efficient pension system.

“One is the rapid ageing of the population and, second, the low amounts of retirement savings that make retirees vulnerable to slipping into poverty.

“When it was first set in 1951, the full withdrawal age of 55 was the same
as the average Malaysian’s life expectancy then. Some 60 years on, the full withdrawal age has not changed, but the average life expectancy of Malaysians has risen to 75.”

MTUC secretary-general Abdul Halim Mansor said it was glad that the government had taken the initiative to raise the retirement age of private sector employers.

He said this was something MTUC had been demanding for a long time.

He added that there should not be any problem in implementing the act
quickly.