MTUC: Resist & Fight
Sep 11th, 2007 by Tian
MTUC is fighting a new battle against the assault on their rights and livelihood.
In the last three years, workers have been under heavy inflationary pressure. MTUC was part of the coalition against petrol hike and toll hike.
In June, MTUC launched its campaign for the implementation of RM900 monthly minimum wage and RM300 cost of living allowance (COLA). The unions organized two pickets nationwide.
However the government not only refused to accept the labour demands, Deputy Minister of Human Resources even accused the MTUC as the tool of the opposition.
It is true that MTUC President Syed Shahir is a member of Parti Keadilan Rakyat. He was originally member of Parti Rakyat which merged with Parti Keadilan Nasional in 2003. Party affiliation not something unusual or sinister among union members and leaders. In fact, besides KeADILan, PAS or DAP, there are many UMNO members in the union movement too.
The issue is not party membership but the commitment and professionalism of the workers leadership. The MTUC leadership makes collective decision and struggle together to defend workers rights. That is an unquestionable fact.
The Government is unwillingly to consult or discuss workers issues with the MTUC. Instead its intension is to push through more and more anti-workers legislations in the Parliament.
On August 27, days before the Anniversary of Independence, the ruling parties quickly passed a bill on the amendment of Industrial Relations Act. That was clearly a move to undermine workers’ rights and welfare.
The MTUC President called on the MTUC affiliates and members to fight back. The gathering in Kuala Lumpur at Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall on 8 September was the first mobilization. The rally convened at 15:00hr, somewhat later than scheduled due to traffic congestion from industrial areas in a Saturday afternoon.
The program started with Proton Union members presenting a performance of Dikir Barat, singing about people’s struggle. This was followed by a fiery speech by Sivananthan, MTUC’s Financial Secretary.
Syed Shahir delivered the final speech where he promised that all the leaders will go down to explain the struggle to the grassroots and mobilize them for mass action.
Syed Shahir also announced the MTUC General Council resolution that:
As a sign of protest against the Government’s bulldozing the amendment of Industrial Relations Act, the MTUC declares a total suspension of all tripartite process with immediate effect. The suspension will be enforced and be reviewed after a month.
“The workers must rise up and fight!” declared the President, “and workers know, if they don’t, nobody else will fight for them.”
I have not updated myself on the issue of MTUC and the minimum wage and revised COLA but I did recall at one time on prime time news accusation by the government that MTUC has been penetrated by the Opposition party and is a tool of the Opposition just because the President is a member of the Opposition party is totally unacceptable. Of course the line is blurr and would be blurred between being a party member and President of MTUC but then again MTUC is fighting for the rights of workers and I do not think if fighting for the rights of its members and workers would be label as an strong supporter of the Opposition.
In many ways, history has shown that any political party or interested parties would use another organization especially when it has a strong membership to further its interest and ideas and have it supported by them. I shall not mentioned names of which character used this method suffice to say we all know this tactic. In any case, what the President of MTUC is doing does not mean that he is a ultra or a communist or a tool of the Opposition. Having similar if not the same platform of policies and ideas with a certain organization or person(s) does not mean we totally share or agrees with that particular entity as deep down inside how we view things is different due to our different upbringing, experiences and surrounding. Does holding and believing on equal opportunities for all regardless of believe, creed and race signifies a person is a communist, or a strong supporter of DAP or a Malay who is deeply religious is a PAS member. I do not think so. So is the case with the MTUC President as I believe if he is fighting for the cause of the members/workers then he is fighting for that cause eventhough I am sure he has his own agenda too, who doesn’t ? Right ?
At the end of the day, I would like to question as to how far is MTUC going to go with this issue. It is hardly any good if in their fight they just concentrate on holding mass rallies and picketing especially when the government insist on organizer’s having to apply for permits prior to a gathering and in the case of MTUC I am sure they will revoke any application for permit. From my perspective, if MTUC wants to put the message across they should go back to the ground, explain to the members and general public on what is happening. Distribute leaflets to residential areas, and educate the public and not only members. Convert these voices of disagreement into VOTES in this coming election and tell the BN led government that the people will not pushed into allowing this action to continue.
The arguments from both sides does hold some points but then again at the end of the day, the government needs to understand and realise that as a government which came into power by votes from the people they need to protect the interest of the people FIRST and not oversimplyfying that they have to make Malaysia competitive to foreign investors thus the need for basic wages/salary to be maintain at a low at par with our neighbouring countries. I am sure with so many economic advisers around the PM and government, we can overcome that issue and actually improve our economy and attract investors with a different set of investment. It seems our nation are still competing at the lower end of the economic activity similar to those of our neighbour when we should have upgraded ourself to higher end consumer production as envision in our Vision 2020. It seems all the BN government is doing now is talk and talk and more talk.