Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Will Pakatan be like the BN when it comes to worker rights?

Mengapa tidak praktikal? Isunya adalah keadilan - berapakah yang diperlukan untuk seseorang pekerja menampung kehidupan beliau sekeluarga, di mana RM1,500 adalah jumlah yang munasabah, adil dan 'paling minima'...Harus disedari bahawa kini pekerja kerajaan, yang bergaji paling rendah pun mengambil pulang lebih kurang RM1,500-00 setiap bulan (campur COLA - Cost of Living Allowance/Elaun Sara Hidup) - maka tidakkah wajar bahawa setiap orang pekerja dibayar sekurang-kurangnya RM1,500 sebulan (kalau tak mahu bayar gaji, mungkin pastikan ada 'COLA' dan sebagainya untuk memastikan setiap pekerja bawa pulang sekurang-kurangnya RM1,500..

Komen pemimpin Pakatan ini memberi gambaran bahawa mereka ini sama macam orang BN - mementingkan kepentingan industri. Isu gaji minima bukan isu ekonomi - tetapi isu keadilan. Apa yang perlu adalah untuk memastikan keadilan untuk pekerja dan keluarga mereka...Potong penyelewengan, mungkin gaji CEO syarikat GLC,potong belanja pertahanan (tak payah submarine,....) .... tetapi pastikan setiap pekerja boleh membawa pulang gaji adil...

Saya khuathir dengan penyataan pemimpin Pakatan ini ... Adakah mereka akan mansuhkan sistem 'kontraktor for labour'? Adakah mereka akan memberhentikan pengunaan kontrak pekerjaan jangka pendek, dan memastikan semua pekerja mendapat kerja tetap sehingga umur persaraan?....

 

Pakatan rejects RM1,500 wage proposal

Leven Woon | January 7, 2013 
 
Its leaders say that the proposal is not practical.


PETALING JAYA: Several Pakatan Rakyat leaders have poured cold water on the Malaysia Workers Network’s manifesto demanding a minimum wage of RM1,500, saying that this is not applicable to the country at the moment.

Citing a classified World Bank’s report on the implementation of minimum wage in Malaysia, PKR director of strategy Rafizi Ramli said the country could only afford a minimum wage of RM1,100, otherwise it would have adverse impact on the industries.

“The report stated that if the minimum wage goes beyond RM1,100, the economy would not be able to absorb [the increase],” he told FMT today.

The RM1,100 rate was proposed by Pakatan in its alternative budget.

Yesterday, the Malaysia Workers’ Network, a coalition of more than 20 trade unions, have asked for RM1,500 minimum wage in its five-point manifesto for the upcoming general election, saying that this takes into account a worker’s monthly expenses.

They also pointed out that Selangor government has adopted RM1,500 in the government-linked companies (GLCs).

Rafizi said the Selangor’s policy was not applicable to the rest of the country because each state has different level of development and different types of industry.

“If it is higher than RM1,100, it will begin to severely affect the lower-value industry and destroy jobs,” he said.

When told the Human Resources Ministry has claimed the same thing when Pakatan proposed its RM1,100 floor wage two months ago, Rafizi said: “The ministry’s statement was based on propaganda, not facts and figures, while our decision is precisely based on data.”

However, he was willing to discuss the matter with MWN by producing the data.

“My fear is that the union has not seen the data; once it has seen it , I think the union would understand,” he said.

Not sustainable

DAP Bukit Bendera MP Liew Chin Tong said Pakatan would stick to the proposed RM1,100 rate and assist industries to upgrade from labour-intensive operations to the skill-based ones.

“The immediate challenge for Malaysia now is to reduce the number of unskilled foreign labour and move our industries to depend less on labour.

“Once skills, productivity and wage grow in tandem, a higher minimum wage is desirable,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kuala Selangor MP Dzulkefly Ahmad said the RM1,500 proposal was not sustainable as it would be counter-productive to workers in the market.

Dzulkefly, the PAS MP who was in the Pakatan’s minimum wage research team, also said a fair wage policy was another concept pursued by the opposition pact.

He said at the moment, the salary earned by a CEO and a driver was world apart because low-ranked workers have been deprived the rights of equitable profits.

“It’s all about the willingness to share profit of the company to the public and to let workers to live with a dignity,” he said. - FMT News, 7/1/2013, Pakatan rejects RM1,500 wage proposal

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