In the automotive realm, workshop mechanics and technicians provide a vital service to vehicle owners, but the associated toil of the industry and easier pickings elsewhere means that fewer folk are wanting to take up the vocation these days.
One such segment facing a shortage of workers is the tyre retail industry, specifically tyre technicians, who are responsible for assessing tyre conditions and repairing, replacing and maintaining tyres on various types of vehicles. The situation has become so dire that tyre dealers are asking the government to allow them to hire foreign technicians because they aren’t getting enough locals to do the job, as The Star reports.
According to Malaysian Association of Tyre Retreaders and Dealers Society president Goh Kiang Weng, many tyre dealerships and workshop operators are facing an uphill battle to hire “new blood” for the job, which is generally seen as dirty.
He said there is a serious shortage of workshop technicians in the country, especially in Johor Baru due to its close proximity to Singapore, which is luring many away due to the strength of its currency. “The industry is facing a big gap where existing technicians are getting older and retiring, yet there is a lack of replacement from the next generation,” he told the news publication.
Goh said that while the industry has seen a gradual drop in the number of people working at workshops in the past decade, the situation has gotten worse in recent years. He said that as such, hiring foreign help would be the solution.
“However, the government does not allow us to do so because it says that there are sufficient Malaysian skills certificate (SKM) holders in the country who can be hired for the job. As industry players, we are seeing a different story as young SKM holders prefer to work as ride-hailing drivers, food delivery riders and chain food/beverage outlets compared to working in the automotive repair industry, which gets their hands dirty,” he said.
Goh said the association had raised the matter with government representatives in the past, and was once again appealing to authorities to allow it to hire foreign help to fill up the vacancies. “In the age of digitalisation and business model shifts, we have to tackle the issue seriously or risk the industry’s elimination and dealerships being forced to close,” he explained.
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Gaji tinggi sikit berlambak la nak tu
Can but they need to learn our Bahasa or English properly first cause most of them only knows the basic. Kang lain cakap lain yang dibuat, nak2 pulak kena order brg dah sampai rupanya salah brg. Naya woo
Tyre dealer try to pay the candidate minimum pay doing ‘dirty’ job. Then expect youngster work with them. People in JB willing to do all sorts of dirty job in Singapore because they get paid well enough. If foreign worker tyre dealer can squeeze them dry with minimum pay. Thats why they want foreign worker.
Betul tuan….sy baru Nak cakap…
the bosses only want cheap labor. that’s all. stop manipulate malaysian
Young Malaysians don’t want to do dirty work or you want to exploit cheap foreign workers?
this reason is 1 sided,
because i see the World top4 Largest Tire Manufacturing Countries are:
1. France
2. Japan
3. China
4. Germany
so how do they manufacture tyre?
is it also by the same group of foreign workers?
Only in this country all the 3D jobs are done by foreigners.
I am aslo not sure why but i am very sure the bossess all want cheap labour… Even if you go to petaling street all the stalls and shops are all run by foreigners!!
I watch drain cleaning youtube videos in Japan, Australia, US, UK
Its all done by the natives in these countries. no foreigners
I am aslo surprised that in Japan, there are no plastic rubbish in the rivers and drains… can only see silt,stones leaves and twigs ect.
In our rivers and drains, can find lots of palstic…
there is a huge mindset difference between the people!!
Now in construction workers without any experience is getting RM100 per day or about RM2600 per month. A skilled worker is about RM150 per day or almost RM4000. Supervisor without SPM but got experience can get at least RM6000.
Aircond installation apprentice salary start from RM2000. With 5 years experience can get about RM3000. If you can lead a team to do aircond installation salary is between RM4-5k.
Electric worker. An apprentice salary is usually start from RM1800. But with 5 years experience it can get RM3.5k at least.
If you quit school after SPM and start work at 18, at 23 you get earn at least RM3k onward and before 30 maybe can get RM5k. But this is subject to your work performance, 6 days a week and willing to commit to work. But in reality more than 50% of blue collar workers hardly go to work 6 days week. MC, EL and numerous funeral to attend.
Lu bayar gaji cukup untuk orang Malaysia hidup di Malaysia ka? You all want Malaysians to live like migrant workers who are all here for one purpose – send money back to their home countries, build their fortune/support family then GTFO to live like a king. They spend as little money as possible in this country so they don’t help our economy run on a larger scale. They just help these business owners who get away paying salary like they did in the 80’s and net higher profits. You can complain productivity low, but Malaysians working overseas in similar jobs are all working damn hard so not a matter of ability.
Sama punya hal in omputeh countries la, except they have regulations to ensure a relatively decent minimum living wage. And you can bet the Malaysians there are sending money back here to their families.
Dirty work or cheap work? Genuine question. What’s the starting pay for a job at a tyre shop? I get that Malaysians are spoiled and refuse to work in many sectors, but the other side of the coin is that many SME bosses don’t want to pay proper wages (especially health benefits) and would prefer foreign labour. I know some SME bosses who pay their staff well and all are locals, but also also know some scummy cheapskates.
foreign workers can do the job well or not? many take shortcuts and do shoddy job. tyres are the only contact a car has on the road. don’t simply hire incompetent workers.
this i agree with u. Just look at the eggs sell in mart. Many not clean properly. Shit, feather still stick on the shell. If i remember, 20yrs ago, very seldom need to clean the egg before put inside the fridge, but now everytime i need to clean first. So foreign labour good? their cincai work & understanding of hygiene r very very low. Now i dont go any f&b if food handle by migrants.
Clearly they are underpaying their staff so nobody local wants to work there. A lot of people wiling to do dirty work if they are paid well, just look at politicians.
Young malaysians don’t want to do dirty work ❌
We don’t want to pay that much for young malaysians to work for us ⭕
I reckon they should just close it off or up the salary for it to be appealing to malaysians.
totally b/s! Many enrolled to automotive college/ tvet/ SKM for wat if they scare of dirty work. It is bcoz of WAGES TOO LOW. These biz ppl just want low expenses, high return!! No need give benefits..thts y want to get foreign worker! Think long term. Recruit local, the $$ circulate locally, improve the economy. Recruit foreigner, 80% of wages outflow back to their home country!! If all employ foreigner, later foreigner bcome bos, local hv to work them! How bout u give Rm3k salary, 5 days work..see whether u still fail to get local manpower!? These ppl r very selfish!! Think abt themselves only!!
And they talked abt JB ppl prefer to work in SG, but they nvr said tht their business revenue improve due to increase SG ppl spending in JB. Raise the salary to match at least 70% of SG wages, i bliv many will not want the hassle to travel everyday to SG if got choice. The real issue is WAGES, not dirty work!! Ppl do ehailing / food delivery bcoz they can earn higher than working for u, u understand??!!
we need to figure it out,
meanwhile, there are many (at very low percentage) malaysian had love to go Australia’s Farm to work
more like “Tyre Dealers want to pay as wages low as possible because local Malaysians ask for minimum”. the pay cant keep up with local cost of livings, especially when you have tyre shops literally everywhere next to each other
Pay peanuts and expect to do heavy works? Don’t blame the new generation, if you give good salary then people will come to work, please don’t create excuses
Bg gaji berapa? Dah ikut gaji minima?
Cakap je nak bayar gaji ciput. Cuba bagi gaji progresif, mesti ramai yg nak.
You can visit any tyre shop in Klang Valley.
Almost 50 % workers are from Bangla,or Myanmar.
Some claim to have permits,apart from those who are just illegals.
There are syndicates bringing in these PATI.
Some on tourists visa,ended up as tyre technicians.
Ahlokekor..everyone saw u got chest problems at parliament..when u recover,pls go undercover and see the situation firsthand n lobby for permits to hire skillful foreigners.
What happens when you don’t appreciate workers and try to keep the pay as low as possible.
Yeah. When u pay them minimum wage & expects them to do very labor intensive jobs. Do u honestly think people would line up in drove to do the job?
no you’re wrong. not because it’s dirty. it’s because of filthy low salary. face it. you can say whatever you want. meet the end is just increasingly difficult
Are you sure low salary? 5 years skilled worker can do alignment anytime can get at least 4k. 18 years old guy even without SPM freshy started with 2k, and 5 years later at least 4k at age of 22 only. How many people can get 4k in 22, even a fresh grad hardly got 4k at 24. The market is now lack of blue collar workers and oversupply of white collar.
Ya, i dont think is just younger generations. I believe the salary could not catch up to the inflation rate as some has been working in a workshop for the pass 10 years and the salary did not moved upwards but workshop owners are earning more due to no incremental salary.
bull la, more like they dont want pay higher wages
in reality many SMEs are struggling with workforce issue especially those in servicing sector which covers a lot of SMEs, but many of them do not have the luxury of an association to voice out
SME struggling due to policy! No funding to compete with the establish one, for marketing, branding, promotion, renovation & to recruit. All setup using own modal or borrow from relative/frens… tahan few yrs, close down..end up doing ehailing to repay debts..sigh…
That’s a lie. What about increase the salary? Fcking assholes
Rich owners want to pay staff peanuts so nobody wants to work for them and they come complain young workers are not interested. Funnily many of these young pekerja buruh are doing the same exact work in Spore and getting paid much better. So is the issue here there are no workers at all, or there are no workers willing to work for peanuts?
Some stupid people here thought tyre worker is “cheap salary”. In KV no one will take 1500 even if they have no experience at all. All bosses at least offer RM1800 to RM2000 as basic plus RM10 for lunch for young people without experience. If a 18 years old young guy work 5 years at 23 years old he can easily get RM3000. After 5 years become skillful worker he can get salary of RM5000 at age of 28. How many degree graduate can get salary of RM5000 in their 28?
And the workers if good maybe the boss can open a branch and the worker become small share director of the outlet/ At this point normal income will be RM8000 plus profit sharing maybe in age of 35. With profit sharing and yearly bonus, annual income easily got RM120k.
But still many young guys dont want to work at tyre workers because of “dirty” and “hot”, not because of money.
Yet the same folks are doing the same exact job in Spore and getting much higher pay? Your excuses dun make any sense lah! Are you one of those DAP voting rich but kiamsiap taukes too. We can see your true colours.
Autodriver , so u think 1.8-2k is alot of money is it? , even migrant get more than tht. So after 5yrs of working long hours, 6days per week only raise to 3k/p mth is alot? i agree tht even some fresh grads salary are too low for the amount spent on tertiary education and effort to get the degree. Ppl go oversea bcoz of high wage after conversion, just like those migrant working here…so all is bcoz of $$$. if 2k cant get a worker, just raise it..dont pusing and find excuses. Want to earn local money but dont want to pay local to work, wat the logic??
All about $$$, you thought Msia work attitude better than migrant? Do you know the blue collar work type M, I and some C are hardly work 6 days a week and 10 hours a day. And these people have many excuses MC, EL, numerous funeral to attend bla bla bla and absent to work. Most migrants are capable to work 6 days a week and 12 hours a day.
What you think these kind of Msia deserve more than 2k salary with lousy working attitude? Private companies aren’t charity body. They need staffs to contribute their effort and in return they get paid. In your concept even if the staff perform badly and bad attitude they should get high paid. If this is your concept then no one company will success in msia with this laziness culture.
FFS.. paying semi skilled graduate below basic wage, using no experience as excuse.
There are reasons why the US justice system are accusing & targeting many Malaysian big companies with labor exploitation & manipulation
Why they don’t mention the starting pay ?
In KL and Selangor the starting pay at RM1800 min and boss pay RM10 for lunch, 5 years later will likely get RM3000. If you can do alignment plus managing the shop easily get RM5000 basic plus commissions after 10 years at age of 28. Don’t even think the boss only offer RM1500 min salary, no one in KL and Selangor will accept this rate. The workshop bosses desire to get cheap labour and offer RM1500 as min, but at this rate no one will come to ask for the job at all. Even a bangla doesn’t take this min pay what. Of course you can’t expect RM2500 as an apprentice at age of 18.