Firms warned about linking wage hikes with productivity<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A senior official of the Ministry of Manpower
\nwarned companies yesterday against linking productivity to pay
\nincreases in the official minimum wage level.<\/p>\n
Director General for Supervision, Training and Productivity
\nAndy Sangaji said yesterday that the government's decision to
\nraise the minimum wage levels on April 1 has nothing to do with
\nproductivity.<\/p>\n
Andy pointed out that the minimum wages were calculated on the
\nbasis of the minimum physical requirements.<\/p>\n
People cannot expect workers to be productive if they can not
\nmake ends meet, he said.<\/p>\n
The government announced on Tuesday that it would raise
\nminimum wage levels by between 10 percent and 35 percent in 19
\nprovinces as of April 1. The new wages, ranging between Rp 2,800
\n(for Central Sulawesi) and Rp 4,600 (for Jakarta and West Java),
\nequal about 107 percent of the estimated minimum physical
\nrequirements in each region.<\/p>\n
The chairman of the East Java chapter of the All Indonesian
\nWorkers Union (SPSI), Soedariyanto, said the new minimum wage
\nlevels should be enforced if necessary.<\/p>\n
The daily minimum wage in East Java, which will be increased
\nfrom Rp 3,250 to Rp 3,700, was not really adequate, Soedariyanto
\nsaid. "Ideally the take-home pay of a worker in the urban area of
\nEast Java would be between Rp 4,500 and Rp 5,000 a day," he was
\nquoted by Antara as saying.<\/p>\n
Soedariyanto, who is also a member of the Surabaya legislative
\ncouncil, called for the dissemination of information on wage
\nincreases so that both business people and the workers will be
\naware of their rights and obligations regarding the new policy.<\/p>\n
He called upon business people to comply with the regulation
\non the new wage levels without making excuses. SPSI, he added,
\nwill make sure that those who fail to comply will be punished.<\/p>\n
There are more than 8,300 companies with about 600,000 workers
\nin East Java. SPSI is represented in 1,670 of the companies.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) meanwhile
\ncriticized the government for using the minimum physical
\nrequirement as the yardstick in setting the minimum wage level.<\/p>\n
The method is not only out of date but also goes against the
\nsocial and economic reality of today's workers, the foundation
\nstated yesterday.<\/p>\n
Even if the government raised the minimum wage levels by 100
\npercent, this would still be far from adequate because the
\ngovernment applied the standard of minimum physical requirements
\nwhich was exercised 40 years ago, said the statement by Hendardi,
\nYLBHI's director of communication.<\/p>\n
Gap<\/p>\n
Hendardi suggested that a more appropriate method would be to
\nreduce the gap between the salary of the top executive in a
\ncompany and the lowest wage of its workers. He said this gap
\nappears to be increasing at an alarming rate. In the sport shoe
\nindustry a top executive could earn as much as 200 times the
\nlowest wage earner, he said.<\/p>\n
He proposed that an independent wage council be set up to set
\nminimum wage levels.<\/p>\n
At present, these levels are set at every province through
\nnegotiations involving representatives of SPSI, employers and the
\ngovernment.<\/p>\n
YLBHI also called for better supervision to ensure compliance
\nwith minimum wage levels because the current system is weak and
\nexcludes workers.<\/p>\n
It recalled that in the past many workers who demanded the
\nminimum wage ended up being dismissed or even arrested by the
\nauthorities.<\/p>\n
YLBHI acknowledged the complaints most often cited by
\ncompanies was the need to suppress workers' wages due to other
\ncosts to cover, known as the invisible costs to pay bureaucrats
\nto avoid excessive red tape.<\/p>\n
"As long as the invisible costs exist, the workers will never
\nenjoy our industrial growth," YLBHI said.(sim)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/firms-warned-about-linking-wage-hikes-with-productivity-1447893297",
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