KUALA LUMPUR: Around 50,000 cleaners hired to work at schools nationwide have been paid below the minimum wage since the Full Movement Control Order (FMCO) began last month.
Jaringan Pekerja Kontrak Kerajaan coordinator Danial Hakeem said his association had been receiving complaints from around the country on cleaners' salary being slashed by 40 per cent, with some reportedly only receiving between RM600 to RM700 per month.
Danial said he was informed by the cleaners' contractors that the respective district education office had cut allocations for the cleaning companies.
"Some of them are earning daily wages. I am not sure if there are any new agreements made but the contractors too are clearly upset with this," he said when contacted today.
He said the Education Ministry appeared to have gone against the guidelines set by the Human Resources Ministry which stipulated that workers must still be paid not lower than the 2020 Minimum Wage Order.
According to the ministry's frequently-asked-question page, workers who earn daily pay, for instance, must be paid according to the agreement made between the employer and the employee, and should not be below the minimum wage.
"There is clear contradiction between two ministries and the ones suffering are the cleaners.
"Many of them are in the B40 group, how can they survive with such income?" he added.
He will hold a press conference on the matter tomorrow.