'Workers must flex electoral muscles'
Nigel AwPublished: May 14, 2012 11:08 AM | Updated: May 14, 2012 5:41 PM
Pakatan Rakyat leaders last night urged workers who make up the largest voting bloc in the country to flex its muscles in the face of a looming general election.
Pakatan Rakyat leaders last night urged workers who make up the largest voting bloc in the country to flex its muscles in the face of a looming general election.
“In Poland, workers are so powerful that not only can they decide who the government will be, they can even take over the government by themselves.
“So why don’t you stand up for your rights? You are 13-million-strong, why don’t you use your power?” said PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu (left).
Speaking to some 3,000 people at a Workers’ Day ceramah in Shah Alam last night, Mohamad ripped into Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s recently announced minimum wage policy.
Najib had on the eve of labour day announced that the minimum wage in the peninsula would be RM900 and Sabah and Sarawak would be RM800, which includes allowances.
“Is it enough? Even when I go into a coffeeshop I find a seat facing the wall, because if four or five more people join my table how am I going to pay for them?” he quipped.
He added that PAS had been the pioneers in advocating for workers’ rights when it came into power in Kelantan.
“When we introduced two off days for workers, the federal government said this will reduce productivity, that Malaysians will become lazy, but in the end they copied us,” he said.
Adding on, DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang said the meagre minimum wage amount announced by the premier continues to ignore the macro aspect of the economy.
“Corruption remains endemic and we have lost RM1 trillion in illegal outflow in the last 10 years because of corruption,” he said.
Meanwhile, PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim formally announced the nomination of former Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) president Syed Shahir Syed Mohamud (right) as a new senator for Pakatan in a move to prop up its pro-worker credentials.
‘Holistic approach to minimum wage’
Anwar said Najib’s minimum wage announcement not only falls short of Pakatan Rakyat’s RM1,100 minimum wage policy but also fails to adopt a holistic approach.
“Even with minimum wage, if the price of oil continues to increase, the price of sugar continues to increase, what difference would it make?
“But if the price of oil is reduced, the price of electricty is reduced, then RM1,100 is a start,” he added, in reference to the coalition’s other promises.
“Therefore Pakatan’s approach to the minimum wage is within the context of good governance,” he added.
Echoing this, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang pledged that the coalition will go beyond direct protection for workers such as minimum wage.
“We will also fulfill indirect benefits such as providing free education, heathcare and the abolition of toll charges,” he said.
Only through reduction in the cost of living will the minimum wage have meaning, he added.
“In Poland, workers are so powerful that not only can they decide who the government will be, they can even take over the government by themselves.
“So why don’t you stand up for your rights? You are 13-million-strong, why don’t you use your power?” said PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu (left).Speaking to some 3,000 people at a Workers’ Day ceramah in Shah Alam last night, Mohamad ripped into Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s recently announced minimum wage policy.
Najib had on the eve of labour day announced that the minimum wage in the peninsula would be RM900 and Sabah and Sarawak would be RM800, which includes allowances.
“Is it enough? Even when I go into a coffeeshop I find a seat facing the wall, because if four or five more people join my table how am I going to pay for them?” he quipped.
He added that PAS had been the pioneers in advocating for workers’ rights when it came into power in Kelantan.
“When we introduced two off days for workers, the federal government said this will reduce productivity, that Malaysians will become lazy, but in the end they copied us,” he said.
Adding on, DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang said the meagre minimum wage amount announced by the premier continues to ignore the macro aspect of the economy.“Corruption remains endemic and we have lost RM1 trillion in illegal outflow in the last 10 years because of corruption,” he said.
Meanwhile, PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim formally announced the nomination of former Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) president Syed Shahir Syed Mohamud (right) as a new senator for Pakatan in a move to prop up its pro-worker credentials.
‘Holistic approach to minimum wage’
Anwar said Najib’s minimum wage announcement not only falls short of Pakatan Rakyat’s RM1,100 minimum wage policy but also fails to adopt a holistic approach.
“Even with minimum wage, if the price of oil continues to increase, the price of sugar continues to increase, what difference would it make?
“But if the price of oil is reduced, the price of electricty is reduced, then RM1,100 is a start,” he added, in reference to the coalition’s other promises.
“Therefore Pakatan’s approach to the minimum wage is within the context of good governance,” he added.
Echoing this, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang pledged that the coalition will go beyond direct protection for workers such as minimum wage.
“We will also fulfill indirect benefits such as providing free education, heathcare and the abolition of toll charges,” he said.
Only through reduction in the cost of living will the minimum wage have meaning, he added.
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