AFP: Rising food, fuel prices drive May Day
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- Date: Fri, 02 May 2008 10:48:37 +0800
AFP: Rising food, fuel prices drive May Day rallies across Asia Message List
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http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/Asia/STIStory_232954.html
Rising food, fuel prices drive May Day rallies across Asia
May 1, 2008
JAKARTA - THOUSANDS of Indonesians took to the streets of the capital
Jakarta for Labour Day rallies on Thursday, with rising food prices and an
expected cut in fuel subsidies weighing heavily on workers' minds.
'We are expecting more than 40,000 people demonstrating today,' policeman
Hariyadi said as thousands of workers gathered at the central Imam Bonjol
traffic circle.
Carrying banners reading 'Lower Food Prices Now' and 'More Pay for Workers
and Farmers', many of the demonstrators said they were alarmed at soaring
inflation and the prospect of sharply higher fuel bills.
'We want the price of kerosene to come down. Food is getting expensive,'
said garment factory worker Yuningsih.
Factory worker Lia said: 'If they keep increasing the price of food, maybe
we'll have to eat less.'
'The price of formula milk for the baby has gone up. It's now 36,000 rupiah
(S$5.40) for a can of 600 grams and the baby drinks it up in two days,' she
said.
Tarjiman, who was marching with a group of garment factory workers, said
people would go hungry if inflation was not brought under control.
'I feel it very hard with the increasing prices. We have to borrow money
before the end of the month and try to work extra odd jobs.'
'If the price keeps going up, we'll be hungry.'
High food prices helped drive Indonesia's annual inflation rate to 8.17 per
cent in March, the biggest increase since October 2006.
Prices are expected to keep rising, with the government considering hiking
subsidised fuel prices in June by almost 30 per cent to minimise the impact
of record oil prices on the national budget.
Many workers were also concerned that their rights were being eroded through
companies' growing use of contract labourers hired from employment agents.
Jakarta police chief Adang Firman told reporters after monitoring the
capital from a helicopter that 10,000 security personnel had been deployed
to control the rallies and another 50,000 were on standby.
All May Day rallies were banned in Surabaya, the country's second largest
city, because the workers' holiday coincided with a religious holiday,
police said.
'Rallies are not allowed during a public holiday. Let's respect Jesus
Ascension day,' Surabaya police chief Anang Iskandar told state news agency
Antara.
'If there are rallies, we'll break them up.'
Thai workers protest for higher minimum wage
In Bangkok, thousands of workers waving flags and banners gathered in the
Thai capital on Labour Day to call on the government to raise the minimum
wage and improve their welfare.
More than 3,000 workers from various industries across Thailand gathered for
a rally outside Government House, where they handed in a list of their
demands.
Speaking from a makeshift stage on the back of a truck, labour leaders
criticised the government, which they said was more concerned with
constitutional amendments than efforts to improve the welfare of workers.
'We will gather here with no time limit,' Ms Wilaiwan Sae Tia, president of
the Thai Labour Solidarity Committee, which helped organise the rally, told
the gathering.
'Today is the day that will prove whether this elected government is sincere
about solving our problems or not,' she said, as protesters waved Thai and
labour organisation flags along with signs saying 'Expensive rice prices,
cheap labour wages' and 'How can labourers live?'.
Demonstrators demanded a minimum wage of 233 baht (S$9.99) a day and a curb
on rising commodity prices. Many labourers around Bangkok earn less than 200
baht a day, while in the provinces daily wages are as low as 144 baht.
They also called for legal amendments to protect labour rights and improve
their working and living conditions, while urging the government to stop its
policy of privatising state enterprises.
'We have long suffered from stagnant wages while inflation keeps rising
steeply,' Ms Arunee Srito, deputy chairwoman of the Women Workers Unity
Group, said.
'Whenever we labourers pleaded for a wage increase, the governments always
told labourers to make sacrifices for the sake of the country. Have they
ever wanted to see us live like other normal people?' Ms Arunee said.
The protesters later handed in a letter with their demands to labour
ministry deputy permanent secretary Nakorn Silpa-archa at Government House.
Nakorn said their demands would be put to a meeting between the government
and employers' and workers' representatives on Friday.
Thousands march in Manila to demand higher wages
In Manila, thousands of workers marched on Thursday under tight security to
demand higher wages in the face of inflation that has sent food prices
soaring.
Some 3,000 police were deployed to avert any violence as scattered rallies
began in several places across the city.
The demonstrators were due to converge at several points later in the day,
including one rally outside President Gloria Arroyo's palace.
Manila police chief, Deputy Director General Geary Barias, said protesters
would be allowed to march near the palace after an agreement with organisers
that they would remain peaceful.
'We have not received any (security) threat this day and we believe in the
sincerity of the rally organisers that they will hold their May 1
celebrations peacefully,' Mr Barias told reporters.
Elite police commandos armed with assault rifles however were deployed in
highways leading to Manila, while 'crowd dispersal units' were also placed
on full alert near key government buildings, AFP reporters said.
'The economic crisis is sharper and more intense this year,' said Mr Renato
Reyes, secretary general of the left-leaning group Bayan.
'Workers in the Philippines have every right to be angry and frustrated,'
over government policies, he said.
The militant May One Movement demanded that Arroyo step down, accusing her
of failing to put in place relief measures amid soaring prices of the staple
rice or prioritising a legislated wage increase.
'Workers are hungry and angry over the Arroyo government's callousness in
addressing demands for wage hikes, price controls and significant economic
reforms,' said Mr Elmer Labor, the group's chairman.
'Calls for a legislated wage hike are justified now more than ever with the
rising cost of all products, utilities and services.' -- AFP
____
http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/Asia/STIStory_232983.html
M'sia's union chief demands US$375 minimum wage
May 1, 2008
KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA'S top union chief on Thursday called for
a minimum wage of 1,200 ringgit (S$509.80) to help workers cope with soaring
food and fuel prices. Mr Syed Shahir Syed Mohamud, president of the
Malaysian Trade Union Congress, said millions of workers struggled on a
monthly income of less than 700 ringgit.
'I cannot imagine how they survive with that meagre income and afford a
decent life, especially for those living in industrial areas. This is the
number one issue that workers are facing now,' Mr Syed said after addressing
a May Day rally in Selangor state.
Mr Syed said employers' excuses that higher wages would increase operating
costs and hit the competitiveness of Malaysian goods were outdated.
'Our workers should be trained and better their skills and taught to operate
machinery. This will cut the country's dependence on cheap foreign labour,'
he said.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, in his May Day message, urged workers
to be more innovative and creative to ensure the country remains
competitive.
He said Malaysia could no longer rely on its cheap labour to attract
investors and should focus instead on creating a higher quality and better
educated workforce in the face of increasing regional competition.
'In the era of a knowledge-based economy, the ability to generate, spread
and apply knowledge is crucial to determine the nation's productivity and
competitiveness,' he said in the statement.
'Malaysia can no longer depend on cheap labour costs. Skills and knowledge
have become an important prerequisite in increasing one's wages in today's
economy,' he said.
The economy is going through a transition phase as it seeks to shift from a
low-wage model to a high-wage, knowledge-based economy.
Malaysia is one of Asia's largest importers of cheap foreign labour and has
about 2.3 million workers from Indonesia, Bangladesh, India and elsewhere to
clean homes, construct buildings and gather crops.
The government has said it plans to cut its reliance on foreign labour to
create more job opportunities for unemployed local people. -- AFP
____
http://www.malaysianinsider.com/mni/trade-unions-chief-says-malaysian-
workers-lot-unfortunate.html
Trade unions' chief says Malaysian worker's lot unfortunate
KUALA LUMPUR, May 1 - Malaysian Trade Union Congress president Syed Shahir
Syed Mohamud describes the state of affairs of workers and trade unions in
the country as unfortunate in his Labour Day address.
Syed Shahir said trade unionism, like many other civil institutions in the
country, had been under relentless attack by policies which favoured the
rich.
He said the contribution of workers towards the country's success could not
be denied but there had been little attempt to accord a fair slice of the
pie of economic progress to them.
"We are experiencing a global phenomenon of rising food prices, which
threatens to put large numbers of people in a state of poverty. We see the
level of real wages diminished, despite rising profits by businesses and the
trampling of human rights, although the world is experiencing a period of
unprecedented economic growth," he said.
Syed Shahir believed the reason was a continuous neglect of all areas of
social development, with the main and sometimes sole emphasis being the
economic advancement of the minority who controlled the economy.
"The concept of the free market based on its original intent has failed. We
do not live in a world where enterprising individuals can reap success
through industry and hard work.
"We live in a world where neo-liberal globalisation has dictated that
monopolies and oligopolies control the global economy," he said.
However, he said, he was not arguing against any global expansion of trade,
but insisted that any trade growth and economic expansion must benefit the
workers of the world. "What we have seen is a growth which has only
benefited the owners of businesses and which has increased the income
divide. If the income divide issue are not solved, this would only cause
social issues which would then take decades to unravel."
Syed Shahir said the masses were being affected in the name of competitive
advantage of nations and that real income levels were falling with more
people now living in relative poverty.
On minimum wage, he said it had been encouraged for too long and it was
morally wrong to deny the people a minimum standard of living. "Are we to
deny our nationals the very basics in life, just so that businesses could
thrive and record huge profits?"
He said even in cases where billions of ringgit were made in profits,
businesses still denied workers wage adjustment during collective agreement
negotiations which would not amount to more than a few hundred ringgit per
employee in a month. - Bernama
____
Eventful May Day buoyed by Pakatan MPs' vow
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/82230
PKR vows a RM1,500 minimum wage for Sarawak
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/82217
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