PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) will be petitioning Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to intervene in the Proton car assembly workers' wage issue.

Its secretary-general G Rajasekaran told reporters today that MTUC would submit a memorandum to the prime minister in the hope that the workers would be granted their request of a floor wage increase to RM900 from the present RM600.

He said the MTUC was informed that the minimum wage of Proton assembly workers was the lowest among government-linked companies (GLCs), with Telekom Malaysia Bhd and Tenaga Nasional Bhd paying at least RM800 and Malaysia Airlines RM1,000.

Rajasekaran said half of Proton's current workforce of 4,200 were assembly workers and they formed the backbone of the company.

"They [assembly workers] are skilled workers and should be paid according to their expertise," he said. He added that due to low wages, many of them had to depend on overtime pay in order to survive.

MTUC deputy president Mohd Khalid Atan said Proton had seen a high turnover of workers. "Whenever the economy of the automobile industry is down, these workers would have no overtime to supplement their income. They have no other choice but to leave," he said.

Since the first collective agreement was signed 23 years ago, the minimum wage had only increased to RM600 from RM315, said Rajasekaran.

Khalid said Proton's management and in-house union were still negotiating the terms of a new collective agreement, after the previous three-year agreement expired in December 2009.

He said the in-house union had asked for a floor of RM900, but the management proposed only RM650 for the assembly workers.