The world economy is slipping into a recession. There are many economists who predict that Malaysia will sustain two to three years of slow, perhaps even negative growth. Already there are signs that the recession is affecting ordinary Malaysians.

We have been getting general feedback that hundreds of factories have reduced or even stopped overtime while many factories have slowed down to a four–day week. Some factories have opted for two weeks of work in a month while a few like Nikko Penang have closed shop.

Sales of electronic goods, computers and cars have dropped sharply. The drop in income that employees and workers receive leads to a contraction in the demand for the goods and services provided by small businessmen. Already, workers in the private sector and small businessmen are having problems.

Work is a basic human right. It is a corollary of the right to life. No work – no food – no life. Every family must be able to find work. The inability to find work is not just the individual's own personal problem. Society has a responsibility to ensure that all those who want to work can work.

Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) therefore urges the government to immediately implement the following:

1. A retrenchment fund - the government should stop using the excuse that employers are not keen, and that time should be given to persuade them. The recession is already upon us. The government should immediately provide RM0.5 billion to start up this retrenchment fund to be used for workers whose employers abscond without paying retrenchment benefits

It should also provide monthly payments for retrenched contract workers for six months or until they manage to find another job, whichever is the shorter.

RM5 billion has just been taken from EPF and given to Valuecap to bail out corporate interests stuck with shares with dropping values. Why not use just 10% of that sum to provide a safety net for workers?

2. Create employment opportunities - the RM7 billion stimulus package proposed by Najib Razak should be channeled to the JKR, the state housing boards, local councils and other government agencies with the proviso that the fund be used to employ jobless Malaysians to carry out the various infrastructure improvement projects that Najib enumerated.

Giving these jobs to contractors would not have the desired effect of providing income support for our workers and small businessmen because private contractors, whose main aim is to maximise profits, would employ fewer Malaysian workers.

3. Enact a minimum wage policy - this is required to prevent the ‘divide and exploit’ practice that is currently oppressing both Malaysian and foreign workers. PSM is committed to a decent minimum wage policy that must be implemented to curb the current practice of using cheap labour policy.

A minimum wage policy would ensure equal pay for local and foreign labour so that the current practice of exploiting foreign labour will not take place.

Unfortunately, many of the recruiting agencies (which make a lot of money out of bringing workers into Malaysia) still have ‘quotas’ that were granted at an earlier period, and many still intend to use these quotas to bring in foreign labour.

There is a high likelihood that these new foreign labourers will not be able to find a job. The only beneficiaries are the recruitment agencies which are closely linked to BN component parties.

Therefore, there should be an immediate freeze on the further importation of foreign labour

Foreign labourers who are already in Malaysia should be given all the protection that Malaysian workers enjoy under the labour laws. However new foreign workers should not be brought in during this time.

4. Lease out agricultural land - in rural areas and around smaller towns, the government should lease out two to three acres of unused land to retrenched workers or others who can't find jobs. In addition to state land, the government should also find mechanisms to ‘borrow’ and use vacant land that is being held by developers and speculators.

The owners of the land leased do not lose anything as they can't develop the land anyway in a time of recession. So there is no significant opportunity cost for them.

5. Food stamps - for those who have no jobs and no source of income, the government should provide food stamps so that they can get basic food items.

6. Renegotiate and restructure all loans - the government should work out a mechanism whereby those whose income have dropped because of the recession can renegotiate and restructure the loans they took to buy a house or to start a business.

This facility should be made easily available to all affected workers and small businessmen.

7. Do not reduce corporate tax - corporate tax should not be reduced from its current level of 27 percent. If this were done, it would be very difficult to bring the rate for corporate tax back up again when the recession resolves.

A lowered rate of corporate tax will lead to either higher fees for essential services or to new forms of tax such as the regressive Goods and Sales Tax (GST). It would definitely not be in the interest of workers for the corporate tax to be reduced.

This recession was not caused by the ordinary people, workers or small businessmen. However, they suffer the worst because they do not have reserves. Usually, their family members will also be struggling and not in a position to offer much help.

In times like this, the Malaysian people must close ranks and work together to ensure that the most vulnerable sectors of our society are given adequate protection. We are a rich society. There is enough to go around if the money is used judiciously and if our government acts responsibly.

The writer is member of parliament for Sungai Siput and central committee member, Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM).