Raise workers’ salaries to solve economic crisis

SAYS ACTIVISTS FROM ASIA, EUROPE

MANILA, Philippines—As trillions of dollars in stimulus packages are running out and as governments deliberate on new ones to stave off the inevitable collapse of the world economy, social movements belonging to the Asia-Europe Peoples’ Forum (AEPF) urge decision-makers to re-think their assumptions and actions.

In discussions prior to the October 2010 AEPF-8, which is the parallel people’s gathering to the biennial heads of states’ Eighth Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM-8) in Brussels, the stop-gap measures of political and economic leaders in these two continents are being questioned by the interregional network of civil society organizations.

“Was there really a rebound? Was it a sustainable rebound? Have the effects of the stimulus package lost steam?” ask AEPF activists of ASEM leaders. The financial and economic crises top the agenda of this October’s ASEM-8.

Charles Santiago, Member of Parliament of Malaysia and AEPF co-coordinator in Asia, proposes a solution to the crisis that has a much longer effect: Raise workers’ real wages.

“Give underpaid workers their real wages and what will they do with it? They will spend all of it. They will buy food, clothing, creating a demand for goods and services. The effect on the economy would be very fast, similar to the stimulus packages,” he said in a news release.

“Except that unlike giving money to the rich, who may buy paintings and other luxuries that create nothing, the poor will 100 percent buy useful things that create local demand for goods and services available locally.”

“Government is subsidizing business when it bails out banks using the stimulus packages. The money should go directly to the people. This is a more sustainable option.”

“All businessmen need to agree to this to make this happen. Businessmen who refuse to accept the logic of this proposal are selfish and short-sighted. The effect would immediately be felt by workers and the businessmen soon after.”

The AEPF is a cross-regional network of activist academicians and parliamentarians, people’s and grassroots organizations, and other civil society groups in both Asia and Europe. It promotes an alternative development paradigm where people and community—not profit and market. It engages ASEM, the gathering of world leaders representing 58 percent of the world’s population and 60 percent of the world’s trade.

On the other hand, ASEM’s 48 members with the prospective accession of the Russian Federation, Australia, and New Zealand represent most of the world’s powers except for the United States. –INQUIRER.net