Firms told to adobt democratic practices<\/p>\n
Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The government has called on businesspeople and labor unions to
\nadopt democratic practices and build pro-labor industrial
\nrelations to improve their position on the global market.<\/p>\n
\"In doing business, employers and managers need to upgrade
\nworkers' social welfare, skills and competence, which would in
\nturn improve labor conditions and workers' productivity. On the
\nother hand, labor unions and workers should boost their
\nperformance to help their companies grow and enable them to pay
\nthem more,\" Director General for Industrial relations at the
\nManpower and Transmigration Ministry Muzni Tambusai said here on
\nWednesday.<\/p>\n
He was speaking at the signing of the 16th collective labor
\nagreement between PT Unilever Indonesia and its workers.<\/p>\n
The harmonious and equal partnership between the management
\nand the workers was the company's strong point, helping it
\nachieve major improvements over the last three decades, and deal
\nwith numerous problems resulting from the economic crisis,
\npolitical instability and security problems in the last five
\nyears.<\/p>\n
Muzni pointed out that without pay rises and training to
\nadvance their skills, workers would be more likely to go on
\nstrike.<\/p>\n
Many companies have closed down over the last few years, not
\nbecause of the prolonged economic crisis and security
\ndisturbances, but mainly due to unprofessional management, he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"Many other companies have achieved robust growth after giving
\ntop priority to the development of their human resources and
\nforging a collective labor agreement through a democratic and
\ntransparent process. Under such a condition, workers will not go
\non strike to demand their normative rights if they know their
\nemployers are unable to comply with the labor law,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Muzni called on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to learn
\nfrom Unilever, which he said had been successful in developing
\npeaceful industrial relations for 32 years, so that it had grown
\nto be a big publicly-listed company producing consumer goods for
\nthe domestic market and export.<\/p>\n
Unilever's human resources director Josef Bataona, said his
\ncompany strength lay in its commitment to maintaining qualified
\nand prosperous human resources.<\/p>\n
\"With the collective labor agreement, the management is
\ncommitted to raising the workers' social welfare, including
\nwages, housing and medical allowances, by 11.35 percent or Rp
\n12.8 billion (US$1.3 million) in a couple of years,\" he said
\nciting that workers' social welfare, labor training and
\npromotion\/appreciation were three key factors to improve workers'
\nloyalty and their productivity.<\/p>\n
He added that the company had provided training programs for
\nworkers, not just to improve their skills, but also to promote
\nthem to higher positions so that regeneration in the company had
\ncontinued in a smooth manner.<\/p>\n
He said that the lowest ranking workers in the company had
\nbeen paid higher than the regional minimum wage, and that the
\nwage gap in the company was relatively very small.<\/p>\n
Former manpower and transmigration minister Jacob Nuwa Wea
\ncalled for the management of Unilever to give a small portion of
\nthe company's stakes to their workers, to maintain their loyalty
\nand help improve their productivity.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/firms-told-to-adobt-democratic-practices-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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