For a better workers' future<\/p>\n
Tomorrow is the 22nd anniversary of the All Indonesian Workers
\nUnion. The Jakarta Post prepared the following article, and two
\nothers on page 2, about the predicament of workers and what the
\nunion has done to improve their lot.<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Aji, 36, a high school graduate from Rangkas
\nBitung, West Java, has made up his mind to stop being a laborer.
\nHe is going to enter the informal sector and sell noodles on the
\nstreet.<\/p>\n
\"What have I got after 13 years of working in factories?
\nNothing. I have saved nothing. And worst of all, I feel like I
\nbecome more ignorant everyday. I dream of nothing but sacks and
\npencils,\" says the father of three, who has worked in a sack and
\nthen a pencil factory.<\/p>\n
Earning less than Rp 300,000 (US$136) a month as a supervisor,
\nAji can only afford to rent a three by six meter dwelling near
\nthe pencil factory in Bantar Gebang, Bekasi.<\/p>\n
Aji knows he cannot escape poverty without developing his
\nknowledge. But the assembly line work has robbed him of the
\nchance. His salary is too low for him to buy books or newspapers
\nto read at home.<\/p>\n
He has just enough to pay for his oldest son's school fees, to
\nbuy their meals and to rent the small, crowded house.<\/p>\n
Sumarni, 23, has worked at a herbal and cosmetics factory in
\nEast Jakarta for three years. Last year she got married and is
\nnow four months pregnant.<\/p>\n
She continues to work on a shift where workers are not allowed
\nto sit in order to support her husband, who is a driver.<\/p>\n
\"I get so tired that my legs stiffen. The smell of the various
\nherbal ingredients makes me sick to the stomach,\" Sumarni said.<\/p>\n
When she is exhausted, she hides out in the toilet where she
\ncan sit on the floor for a while.<\/p>\n
\"If my supervisor found me I would be reprimanded and my pay
\nwould be docked for violating company rules,\" she explained.<\/p>\n
\"I know that working too hard is not good for a pregnant
\nwoman. I am worried that it will affect my baby. But I really
\nneed the money,\" Sumarni concluded.<\/p>\n
Millions of Indonesian workers are living like Aji and
\nSumarni. They leave rural poverty in hope of a better life but
\nfind substandard wages which yield a substandard life.<\/p>\n
The wage they receive only covers the rent on a small
\nmakeshift house. Single workers share a room with two or three
\nother fellow workers. Sometimes a house is a rickety structure
\nwith an earthen floor covered with plastic sheets erected near
\nthe workplace. Electricity and water are often in short supply
\nand becoming sick is a nightmare.<\/p>\n
\"The boss will immediately cut my salary if I get sick, but if
\nI work overtime I only get Rp 1,000 per hour,\" says Supardjo, a
\nTechnical High School graduate.<\/p>\n
\"It's unfair because nobody actually wants to get sick,\" says
\nSupardjo who works for a Japanese-based electronics plant.<\/p>\n
The plant has an All Indonesian Workers Union (SPSI) labor
\nunit to deal with workers' problems. However, many of the SPSI
\nstaff often favor the employers. \"What is the use of such
\norganization?\" Supardjo asked.<\/p>\n
He continues to work at the factory because he is afraid of
\nbeing unemployed. \"It's difficult to find proper jobs. I always
\nconsider my present job as a gift from God,\" Supardjo explained.<\/p>\n
Sacrifice<\/p>\n
Many workers do their best to save, but most end up in debt. A
\ncommon way for workers to save is to save money is to cut back on
\ntheir food budget.<\/p>\n
\"I can save Rp 50,000 a month and eat meat twice a week,\" says
\nYulia, 26, a junior high school graduate from Blitar, East Java.
\nShe works at a shoe factory in Jatake, Tangerang and takes home
\nRp 175,000 a month.<\/p>\n
Workers sacrifice basic needs to save money. Maesaroh, 18, who
\nworks for the Khong Guan biscuit factory on Jl. Raya Bogor, East
\nJakarta, rarely eats nutritious food. A piece of cassava or fried
\nbanana is breakfast while lunch consists of a Rp 500 cup of
\nchicken noodle soup and a plastic bag of water or sweet tea.<\/p>\n
\"Sometimes, I am still very hungry, but I have to save my
\nmoney for tomorrow's meals,\" she said.<\/p>\n
For dinner, she and her friends sometimes eat a cup of rice
\nwith sayur asam (West Javan sour vegetable soup) and ikan asin
\n(salted fish). After payday they splurge on a chicken and other
\n\"luxuries\" like meat, tofu and fish.<\/p>\n
Maesaroh's ability to survive may aptly be named another
\n\"economic miracle\" in a country labeled \"One Asian economic
\nmiracle\". Many attribute this marvel to the resilience of
\nIndonesia's poor.<\/p>\n
Theoretically, no workers can manage what Maesaroh does. The
\npresent minimum wage of Rp 3,800 (US $1.70) a day in Jakarta and
\nWest Java is only 70 percent of the minimum physical requirements
\ngiven in an outdated outline drawn up in 1956. It states that a
\nbachelor needs, among other things, a mat to sleep on, sandal
\njepit (plastic sandals) to wear and an oil lamp.<\/p>\n
\"We have been independent for 50 years. It is ridiculous that
\nwe can't even meet these obsolete requirements,\" says Bomer
\nPasaribu, the secretary general of the All Indonesian Workers
\nUnion.<\/p>\n
The government announced that the minimum salary of workers
\nwill increase throughout the nation on April 1. Wages will move
\nslightly above minimum physical requirements, to Rp 4,600 a day
\nin Jakarta and West Java.<\/p>\n
This is below the union's demand of Rp 7,000 in Jakarta and
\nWest Java. The union argues that workers must be able to do more
\nthan just survive. They deserve a decent life which allows some
\nrecreation.<\/p>\n
Their demand, the union says, is affordable. Indonesian
\nworkers are among the lowest paid in the world. Bomer says that
\neven China, which has a GNP of US $420 compared to Indonesia's US
\n$720, pays its laborers 58 cents an hour, which is higher than
\nthe Rp 7,000 a day the union wants.<\/p>\n
Misleading<\/p>\n
Some business people argue that Indonesian workers, who are
\nmainly uneducated, deserve low wages because their productivity
\nis low. Both activists and business take issue with this
\nargument.<\/p>\n
\"Indonesian workers are generally diligent and can be trained
\nin a short period of time. If there is an impression that they
\nare lazy, it is because of weak supervision,\" says Then Ngim Fu,
\npresident of PT HASI, a shoe factory that employs 9,500 workers
\nin Desa Pasir Jaya, Tangerang.<\/p>\n
If laborers don't benefit from Indonesia's economic boom, then
\nwho does? Bomer answers that first and foremost the unidentified
\nparties who collect what insiders call hidden costs or collusion
\ncosts are the winners. The hidden costs, according to economists,
\nis 30 percent of total production costs.<\/p>\n
The second group of beneficiaries are the owners. Indonesia
\nhas one of the largest discrepancies between minimum and maximum
\nsalaries. In Indonesia, according to Bomer, the maximum salary is
\non average 50 times the minimum, whereas in Japan the maximum
\nsalary is only nine times as much as the minimum. In Singapore
\nthe difference is 11 times and in Thailand it is 18 times.<\/p>\n
\"I believe there are bosses here who rake in more than Rp 100
\nmillion a month, whereas some workers receive only Rp 100,000,\"
\nhe asserted.<\/p>\n
H. Safioen, director of PT Great River Industries, estimates
\nthe wage discrepancy can reach about 60 times the minimum in his
\ncompany. He says the company used to pay an average of Rp 4,800
\nto its 6,600 factory workers when the minimum wage was Rp 3,800.<\/p>\n
Many investors, however, claim they can't afford the new
\nminimum wage. The Indonesian Textile Association said this week
\nthat over 70 textile factories could go bankrupt because of the
\nincrease.<\/p>\n
Last year, some investors from South Korea claimed they
\ncouldn't afford last year's wage increases. Investors claim that
\nthe wage increases will hinder Indonesia's exports and industrial
\ngrowth. This, in turn, could adversely effect the eight million
\nsemi-educated Indonesians employed in industry. According to
\ngovernment data, 28.7 million people are unemployed out of the
\nworkforce of 78.5 million.<\/p>\n
The high labor cost argument is attacked by labor advocates.
\nThey say industrial labor costs are only five to eight percent of
\ntotal cost. The April raise, they say, will have minimal impact.<\/p>\n
An international labor observer says that textile factories in
\nAmerica only generate net profits of between 14 and 16 percent.
\nIn Indonesia, profits range between 54 and 58 percent.<\/p>\n
\"What they mean by bankruptcy may be a decrease in profits to
\n50 percent,\" says the observer who wanted to remain anonymous.<\/p>\n
In the past the government was inclined to believe the
\ninvestors, but now they are leaning towards the workers.<\/p>\n
Manpower Minister Abdul Latief insists that no factory will be
\nexempted from the new minimum wage.<\/p>\n
Last year the minister revoked a law that allowed employers to
\ncall in the army to deal with striking workers. He also made it
\nobligatory for employers to pay workers an extra month salary as
\na bonus.<\/p>\n
Undermining the argument that the increase in wages may have a
\nnegative impact on exports and industrial growth, Suwarto, the
\nDirector General for Industrial Relations and Labor Standards,
\nargues, \"Workers' purchasing power will be increased and it will
\nencourage the growth of small and medium-scale companies and
\neventually the national economy.\"<\/p>\n
Observers, however, warn that the government still has much to
\ndo to improve the worker's lot while maintaining economic growth.
\nThe government must cut hidden costs, narrow the salary gap,
\nimprove infrastructure and revamp labor laws.<\/p>\n
Herman van der Laan, Director of the Jakarta International
\nLabor Organization Office, believes that a prerequisite for a
\nbrighter future for workers is the freedom of association. The
\nbody's main objective is to build sound industrial relations by
\n1999 to allow workers to organize freely to gain bargaining
\npower. (anr\/jsk\/raw)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/for-a-better-workers-future-1447893297",
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