Politik, Legislatif, Dasar dan Tadbir Urus

Next year will be the worst for jobs for almost 20 years, with a net reduction of at least 600,000 people in employment, according to a report published today. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) is predicting a "winter surge" of redundancies in the first quarter of the year that could see as many as 300,000 lose their jobs. The institute warned that unemployment would continue to rise in 2010, taking the total number of jobs projected to be lost over the course of the recession to about one million. In another sign of deteriorating confidence in the economy, the British Chambers of Commerce called for the national minimum wage not to be increased in 2009 to ease pressure on employers. The warnings come amid a series of high street collapses. Yesterday, the children's clothing retailer Adams called in administrators. The CIPD's annual Barometer Report, published today, predicts a net reduction in jobs of 600,000 next year — after 150,000 this y...

More than 2,000 factory workers in Penang have been retrenched in the past three months and more are expected to lose their jobs in the coming months, said Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) Penang branch chairman Abdul Razak Abdul Hamid. “We expect that more people will be laid off next year as the economic situation continue to slowdown,” he told theSun today. Abdul Razak said even those who were not laid off are suffering as many companies are cutting down overtime and working hours, imposing pay cuts and even shutting down operations for long periods of time and forcing workers to take unpaid leave. He said the Human Resources Ministry keeps saying the economic fundamentals are strong but this is not what the workers face in their day-to-day working life.“The ministry only knows how to give figures of people being retrenched but they do not offer a solution to help them,” he said.“We want the ministry to come up with a clear plan to help workers who have been laid off as we can...

Being a society which was born in defiance to the old exploiter society, the socialist society is completely new and is qualitatively different from the capitalist society. Capitalist society is a society which is based on individualism; in this society class antagonism and struggle constitute the basis of social relations. Contrary to this, socialist society is based on collectivism and workers’ comradely unity and cooperation forms the basis of social relations. The essential features of socialism lie in the fact that the working masses are the masters over state power and the means of production. People unite in ideology and will and cooperate in a comradely way because of the homogenous nature of their social status, together with their common purpose and interests. This is also an important factor promoting the development of the socialist society. The imperialists are now making frantic efforts to embellish capitalism and to slander socialism. In essence, however, capitalist soci...

Socialist Economics or Socialist Theories are one of the most controversial theories for the economic development of a nation with the concomitant growth in social welfare. Originally perceived as an idea for the upliftment of the working class who seemed to be destined to be driven down to subsistence wages by the “capitalists” who owned capital and rented land, Socialist Economics has undergone many changes in the course of time. Socialist economy is a structure of the economy which aims at providing greater equality and giving the “proletariat” or working class greater ownership over the means of production. In a normative sense, a socialist economy or a socialist state believes that socialism is the most equitable and socially serviceable form of an economic arrangement designed to achieve human potentialities. Unlike “capitalism” where the means of production are owned by the capitalists, Socialist economies are characterized by the means of production owned by the state or by the...

At least 4,749 workers, mostly from the electronics sector, will be retrenched by 137 employers in the next three months. Under the Employment (Termination And Lay-off Benefits) Regulations, workers would be compensated a part of their salary for each year of service. For workers who have been with a company for two years or less, compensation would be 10 days of salary per year of work. For those who clocked in between two and five years, it would be 15 days of salary per year and for those above five years, 20 days. Any employer intending to retrench, lay off, offer voluntary separation schemes or reduce salaries would have to inform the human resources ministry 30 days before such action is taken.

We already heard yesterday the current recession has already spread to Sarawak, where about more than 1500 workers, staffs, engineers and managers would be out of job soon by next March. Western Digital Media (M) Sdn. had just announced its intention to close down its entire operation in Sama Jaya Free Industrial Zone, Sarawak. The said plant which was previously seen as expanding is going to be abandoned now. Aren't the federal government and the human resources ministry doing anything by coming up with an action plan to retrain and relocate these people? Are they going to just look at our people coming out umemployed for the rest of their lives? What is the Sarawak Chief Minister doing? Where is he and his ministers when a crisis is ongoing? The richest persons in Sarawak is doing nothing at all to help out their poor communities but only continue to enrich themselves and their families. They just do not care.

A bipartisan Parliamentary Caucus on workers and foreign workers established yesterday is calling for a RM1 billion retrenchment fund to be set up by the government. It also wants the government to freeze arrivals of foreign workers as job shortages have become a pressing issue. This comes in the middle of worsening economic circumstances that has seen lower growth projections by the government and analysts alike. Massive job cuts are expected as demand for goods and services continue to slow. Barisan Nasional (BN), Pakatan Rakyat (PR) and independent MPs agreed after its first meeting that it would seek immediate action on these resolutions with the respective ministers. "If RM5 billion can be allocated to Valuecap to help shareholders, why not RM1 billion for workers?" chairman Abdullah Sani Abdul Hamid (PKR-Kuala Langat) told the press today, adding that an appointment with the Human Resource Minister is being sought. He said that if a fund was set up with just RM1 being c...

Socialism and marxism are now back on the agenda, popularised in part by the enemies of the workers' movement, explained Peter Taaffe of the CWI’s International Secretariat introducing the discussion on the world economic crisis. More than that, the role of the CWI now assumes greater importance, partiuclarly as the crisis confirmed our consistent analysis that the boom would come to an end and would provoke struggles. Capitalist commentators have raised their fear of the 'mob'. There is justified anger amongst millions around the world at the effects of the crisis. In Iceland, where the economy is facing a devastating collapse following the speculative activities of the Icelandic banks and their eventual collapse, demonstrations are now taking place. Bankers and ministers are unable to move around freely! Iceland is 1929 in modern terms; it shows what another Great Depression would look like. The crisis has stunned the workers of the world but their anger is reflected in m...

World economic growth will slump to just 0.9 per cent next year - the weakest in nearly four decades - and, with global export volumes set to decline for the first time since 1982, trade-dependent East Asian economies will suffer badly, the World Bank predicted. In a report, it singled out Singapore and Taiwan - "where exports are now declining" - as being among the worst hit. At the same time, East Asia as a whole is suffering from slumping capital flows, falling investment, weaker production, falling household spending, and rising unemployment, the World Bank said. It balanced this litany of woes by predicting that 2010 could see a rapid turnaround for the better in global and East Asian fortunes, with world economic growth rising to 3 per cent and East Asia benefiting from a projected sharp recovery in exports. But it also warned that risks are on the downside and that alonger-than-expected recession in advanced economies could precipitatebalance of payments and currency c...