Today I want to sing a ditty
on The Dignity of Labour.
Very often corporations declare that the workers are their greatest asset.
But then they treat them in manner not befitting that greatest.
It's merely words, not accompanied by affirmative action
When profits soar they say it's all our direction
When profits dip
They say the workers are like rubbish heap
You can't win against most bosses
I have worked under many
I can say some are good
they sahre with wrokers gains and losses
Swim and sink with good or bad times
Through bell tolls and chimes
Let's salute the chiefs
who stand by their workers' side
Condemn those who like a thief
Steal thy body and dignity
May Day, May they, on First of May
in their own dung hill they hide
_____________________________________________
And here's one community message:)
PKR Anwar gesa satu piagam baru untuk buruh
Penasihat Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim menggesa supaya ditubuhkan satu 'piagam baru untuk buruh' yang mengambil kira kesan globalisasi dan pertambahan perdagangan dunia tetapi pada masa yang sama, melindungi hak para pekerja untuk bebas berpersatuan dan mendapatkan gaji yang berpatutan.
Dalam satu perutusan sempena Hari Pekerja, Anwar berkata walaupun beliau mengakui bahawa globalisasi dan perubahan dalam perdagangan dunia telah menghakis kuasa kesatuan-kesatuan sekerja, namun 'hak-hak tertentu pekerja tidak boleh dinafikan dan masih tetap utuh.'
'Hak para pekerja untuk bebas membentuk kesatuan tidak boleh dicabuli sementara hak untuk mendapatkan upah yang berpatutan untuk sesuatu kerja yang dilakukan juga mesti diakui,' kata bekas menteri kewangan itu yang kini menjadi pemimpin tidak rasmi pembangkang Malaysia.
Anwar berkata dalam beberapa sektor penting ekonomi di Malaysia, kedua-dua hak untuk membentuk persatuan dan menerima gaji yang berpatutan bukan merupakan sebahagian dari isu hubungan majikan-pekerja.
"Ini merupakan bintit hitam buat negara ?iaitu setelah lima puluh tahun Merdeka, masih ada pekerja-pekerja yang dihalang daripada menyertai sesebuah persatuan dan bergelut untuk mendapatkan gaji untuk menyara hidup," kata beliau dengan nada kesal.
Beliau berkata Keadilan komited terhadap penggubalan undang-undang gaji minimum dan partinya akan 'menggunakan setiap saluran moral' bagi memujuk majikan dan pengurusan supaya tidak membubarkan kesatuan selain membayar gaji yang setanding dengan keperluan hidup.
'Piagam baru kami bagi buruh akan mengiktiraf hak asasi mereka untuk bebas berpersatuan dan menerima gaji yang berpatutan tanpa perlu melalui saluran perundangan,' kata beliau lagi.
'Kuasa kerajaan untuk menggunakan pengaruhnya tanpa melalui saluran perundangan adalah sangat besar dan PKR akan menggunakan asas moral ini bagi menyokong hak pekerja untuk bebas berpersatuan dan menerima gaji yang berpatutan.'
Beliau berkata hak lain yang seumpamanya adalah perumahan yang memuaskan yang mampu dimiliki, di mana beliau menegaskan, tanggungjawab menyediakannya terletak di bahu kerajaan.
'Peruntukan perumahan yang mencukupi mestilah menjadi satu keutamaan bagi sesebuah kerajaan yang peka kepada keperluan rakyatnya," tegas beliau.
'Sektor perumahan tidak sepatutnya dianggap hanya sebagai enjin pertumbuhan ekonomi. Mestilah ada tanggungjawab sosial dalam peruntukan perumahan di samping kerajaan dan sektor swasta juga mesti mengiktirafnya."
Anwar berkata sebagai sebahagian dari piagam baru Keadilan untuk buruh, Kumpulan Simpanan Wang Pekerja mesti membayar pencarum-pencarum dividen tahunan yang tidak kurang daripada 8 peratus. Dia juga berkata bahawa piagam baru itu turut akan memberi mandat untuk membayar elaun sara hidup buat pekerja-pekerja sektor swasta jika COLA dibayar kepada pekerja sektor awam.
"Kesetaraan adalah perlu apabila terdapat keperluan yang mendesak seperti harga minyak dan tol yang meningkat yang membebankan orang ramai."
Tamat.
_______________________ In English _________________
(Yes, part of promoting Bilingual Society!:) ~~ Desi)
PKR's ANWAR CALLS FOR A NEW CHARTER FOR LABOUR
Parti Keadilan Rakyat advisor Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim called for a "new charter for labour" that takes heed of globalisation and increased world trade but at the same time protects workers' "rights to free association and decent wages."
In a May Day message to workers, Anwar said while he acknowledged that globalisation and the resultant changes to world trade had subtracted from the power of unions, "certain rights of workers are inalienable and enduringly so."
"The right of workers to free association which is the right to form a union must be inviolable and the right to a fair wage for decent work must also be recognised," said the former finance minister who has become the titular leader of the Malaysian Opposition.
Anwar said in important sectors of the Malaysian economy, both the right to form a union and the right to decent wages were not part of the landscape of employer-worker relations.
"This is blot on the nation -- that after fifty years of Merdeka there are still workers who are prevented from being part of a union and are struggling to earn a livable wage," he lamented.
He said while Keadilan did not think that a legislated minimum wage would be the way forward, he said his party would "bring every channel of moral suasion" to bear on employers and management so that the later would not bust unions and would pay a livable wage.
"Our new charter for labour would recognise their basic rights to free association and a decent wage without recourse to legislation," he said.
"The power of the state to exert influence without recourse to legislation is enormous and PKR would use this moral capital to support workers' basic rights to free association and decent wages."
He said a concomitant right was decent affordable housing which he maintained was the government's duty to provide to citizens. "The provision of decent housing must be high on the list of priorities of a government that is sensitive to the people's needs," he said.
"The housing sector should not solely be regarded as an engine of growth for the economy. There must be a social responsibility dimension to housing provision and both government and the private sector must recognise this."
Anwar said that as part of Keadilan's new charter for labour, the Employees' Provident Fund should pay an annual dividend that is not less than 8 per cent to contributors. He also said that the new charter would also mandate the paying of a cost of living allowance to private sector employees if COLA is paid to public sector ones.
"Equivalence is necessary whenever there are such exigencies as fuel price and toll hikes which are burdensome to the common folk."
_________________ Ends Community Service Message___________
To Awe mGf out dare!:)
LET'S SERENADE WITH THE BEE GEES
BENEATH THE FULL MONLIGHT
DEDICATED TO ALL WORKERS YOU AND ME
I WISH THEE "LABOUR WITH DIGNITY"
THINGS WILL BE ALRIGHT
MATEY, I AM YOUR LEFT, YOU ARE MY RIGHT
First of May
When I was small, and Christmas trees were tall,
we used to love while others used to play.
Don't ask me why, but time has passed us by,
someone else moved in from far away.
Now we are tall, and Christmas trees are small,
and you don't ask the time of day.
But you and I, our love will never die,
but guess who'll cry come first of May.
The apple tree that grew for you and me,
I watched the apples falling one by one.
And as I recall the moment of them all,
the day I kissed your cheek and you were gone.
Now we are tall, and Christmas trees are small,
and you don't ask the time of day.
But you and I, our love will never die,
but guess who'll cry come first of May.
When I was small, and Christmas trees were tall,
do do do do do do do do do ...
Don't ask me why, but time has passed us by,
someone else moved in from far away.
UPDATEd @5.09pm:
An extremist example of occupational hazard.
Is there a Malaysian clone of such an employer
in the Malaysian neighbourhood? YOU TELL ME!
"RANCHI, India (Reuters) - An employer in eastern India beheaded one of his workers for failing to milk his cows, police said on Saturday.
Neighbors watched in horror as Upendra Yadav was dragged out of his house in Jharkhand state on Friday by his angry employer.
The employer's father and brother held Yadav down before he was beheaded with a sword, police said.
The employer has been charged with murder.
PS: I recall reading about Estate lbourers bonded till eternity to their slavedriver-emplyers.
Also case of worker being starved, beaten and abused by Employer and family and discarded
by the wayside. Died a few days later. I wonder if the dead man could see some "delayed" justice?
PPS: at a personal level, Desi while working as a Freelance Journalist had met some employers who refused to pay after the job was done; some shortchanged you by saying it was not within their budget; others treated you like a charity case. One had the audacity to say: God gave you the talent to write so you work for us free and treatr you like a hobby.
Yeah, these bast...s (words rimes with dastards:( think writers live on air, sunshine and water alone.
I wish these bast...s get stranded on an island one day with one tonne of gold, two tonnes of silver, and three tonnes of SH*T!:(
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