Labour (Buruh)

On 18th June 2008, the Application for Leave by the Ex-Kamiri rubber tappers was turned down, with costs awarded to Guthrie by a 3-man panel at the Federal Court in Putra Jaya. But paradoxically, the 27 workers who had been retrenched in 1999 by Guthrie, were happily calling the occasion a victory, while Guthrie must be ruing the day when it decided to use its power and financial clout to take a legal short-cut to evict its former workers!

This story begins 9 years ago. These 27 former employees of Guthrie, many of whom are third generation workers with Guthrie, refused to move out their estate quarters in 2000, because they felt that the RM 330 per year of service that was offered by Guthrie as retrenchment benefits was grossly insufficient. They asked repeatedly that Guthrie meet them to discuss better terms of compensation.

Shah Alam, 13 May 2008

16 low-cost houses, this is what will take to resolve this ten year wait. Yes... this is the demand put forward by the former plantation workers from Ladang Galloway and Madingley to YB Dr. Xavier the newly appointed Selangor State Exco for Health, Estates Workers, Poverty and Caring Government.

This morning, representatives from both estates - Galloway and Madingley together with PSM's Secretary General, S.Arutchelvan, Community Development Center Coordinator S. Paremeswari and Sivakumar held a meeting with the Pakatan Rakyat Government to solve their housing problem which has been continuing for more than 10 years.

by Dr. Jeyakumar

Today, a group of about 100 people, members and supporters of MTUC, gathered in front of Parliament House to submit a letter to the Prime Minister requesting that an Act specifying RM 900 per month as the minimum wage be passed in Parliament. This request is eminently reasonable as Malaysia is a wealthy country with a per capita income of RM 23,000 per year, which works out to RM 9,500 for a family of five, and this demand has been put forward by other workers' groups such JERIT.

RM 9500 a month per family is a far cry from the RM 500 a month (or less) that is received by about 25% of the workers in this country. And we need to bear in mind that a family of 5 will today require at least RM 2000 per month to meet their basic needs, and even this with extreme fiscal "prudence". (The official poverty line is an unrealistic RM 691 per month for a family of 5). Given these facts, the request from the workers of Malaysia for a Minimum Wage is very reasonable – why shouldn't they, the prime creators of the wealth of this country, get a slightly better share of this wealth.

Kuala Lumpur - All major newspapers this morning had a warning from the city police Chief asking people not to participate in the May Day rally called by JERIT. The Chief Police Office (CPO) of Kuala Lumpur, Muhammad Sabtu Osman stated that the rally is illegal as it did obtain police permit and those participating will be arrested under Section 27 of the Police Act. Consistent with the threat, Dataran Merdeka was cordoned off by riot police FRU. The crowd then gathered near the Bar Council while PSM leaders led by Secretary General S.Arutchelvan and Chairperson Dr. Nasir Hashim held negotiation with the District Police Chief, ACP Mohammad Zulkarnain.