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Labour Day march to seek a minimum wage
Malaysia Kini - April 25, 2011
The May 1 committee comprising NGOs, civil society and students' movements will celebrate this year's International Labour Day with a march aimed at pressuring the government to enact the Minimum Wage Act. The theme for the Labour Day celebration this year will be 'Harga barang naik! Gaji bila lagi?' (After price hikes, what about pay rise?).
"This represents the workers' struggle with bosses who doesn't want to see the minimum wage implemented," said committee spokesperson S Arutchelvam (right), who is also PSM secretary-general, at the committee's press conference in Kuala Lumpur today.
Asked why he thinks that the employers have opposed the enactment of such an act, he said that it is all a question of money. Employers are only profit oriented. They main motive is profit and they hold no loyalty to the country."
He added that the employers' argument has always been that if wages were increased then firms will leave the country. "This is how they blackmail the government," claimed Arutchelvam further.
The PSM leader said that it is time that the government pick between the workers in their millions, or the profit-seeking corporations.
'People first but profit is more important'
He cited the ever-widening income gap in Malaysia which he said is now the highest in South-East Asia, surpassing even neighbouring Thailand and Indonesia, as a reason to raise wages especially amidst the ever-increasing price hikes of essential goods.
Price hikes, he said, were implemented speedily without consultations with the rakyat, while wage increases were 'studied' to death and initiatives like the Minimum Wage Act dragged at a snail's pace at the behest of profit-seeking employers.
"People first but profit is more important," chimed in Arutchelvam, aping Premier Najib Abdul Razak's 1Malaysia slogan of "People first, performance now".
Five hundred people are expected to join in the march from Chow Kit to Dataran Merdeka where a rally is planned, and a declaration endorsed by over 60 groups will then be read out to state their demands to the government.
According to Andika Abdul Wahab, who represented Suaram at the press conference, they have notified the police of the march and rally.
Arutchelvam added that they do not expect police to object or obstruct their peaceful march and rally, based on previous experience. They have also informed Human Rights Council (Suhakam) who will monitor the event.
Also present at the press conference was Solidariti Mahasiswa Malaysia (SMM) secretary Izzudin Hilmi Mohd Zaini and representatives from civil society group Jerit and the Women's Aid Organisation (WAO).
Sore point
The low wage received by Malaysian workers has been a sore point for labour organisations, with the government for the most part turning a deaf ear to their pleas, citing the need to let "market forces" control wage levels.
However, recently the government had admitted that market forces alone cannot guarantee reasonable wages, with 40 percent of Malaysians living with a monthly salary of less than RM700, well below the poverty line.
This realisation led to the idea to enact a minimum wage policy. The first group to benefit from this was supposed to be security guards. But the move received stiff resistance from employers whose unified opposition has managed to stymie efforts to implements the proposed security guard minimum wage and any government plans to widen the policy by codifying a Minimum Wage Act.
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