Labor movement long involved in politics<\/p>\n
Maria Endah Hulupi and I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post<\/p>\n
Beginning with sugar cane plantation workers' strikes in 1842,
\nIndonesia's labor movement grew strong and later merged with
\nvarious political movements in the country.<\/p>\n
Although Javanese sugar cane plantation workers went on strike
\nin 1842 to reject crippling taxes and demand better wages, it was
\nnot until the end of the 19th century that a true organized labor
\nmovement took root on Indonesian soil.<\/p>\n
In his detailed 2002 paper, labor researcher Edi Cahyono
\nrecounts that in a brief period between 1897 and 1913, at least
\nten labor unions were established in Deli (Sumatra), Bandung,
\nSemarang and Surabaya.<\/p>\n
The early labor movement in the country was first introduced
\nby European workers employed by Dutch companies here.<\/p>\n
\"The establishment of these unions was not motivated by
\neconomics. It was merely a follow-on from the flourishing labor
\nmovement back in the Netherlands,\" Edi Cahyono stated in his
\npaper.<\/p>\n
These unions later also admitted indigenous workers as
\nmembers.<\/p>\n
Eventually, with the colonial government losing its grip on
\nthe country's mass organizations, indigenous workers founded
\ntheir own unions such as the Assistant Teachers' Union
\n(Persatoean Goeroe Bantoe -- PGB) and the Factory Workers' Union
\n(Personeel Fabriek Bond -- PFB).<\/p>\n
This period also witnessed the birth of the Railway Workers'
\nUnion, the Vereeniging voor Spoor-en Tramweg Personeel (VSTP) in
\n1908, based in Semarang, Central Java.<\/p>\n
This railway workers' union grew into a very powerful entity,
\nwith a membership of more than 3,000 railway workers, out of a
\ntotal of 13,000, and played a significant role in the development
\nand radicalization of the Indonesian labor movement, especially
\nwhen the union was led by Semaun.<\/p>\n
Semaun was later appointed chairman of the Federation of Labor
\nUnions (Persatoean Pergerakan Kaoem Boeroeh), which launched a
\nmajor strike in early 1922, involving 1,200 workers from 79
\npawnshops.<\/p>\n
One year later, the railway workers' union sent 8,500 workers
\nout on a massive strike that paralyzed the railway transportation
\nsystem and jolted the government.<\/p>\n
The Indies' administration responded to the strike by issuing
\nstronger labor laws and banishing Semaun to the Netherlands.<\/p>\n
Semaun, in fact, was not only a labor activist but also an
\nactivist with the Sarekat Islam trade association and an
\nimportant figure in the Indische Sociaal-Democratische
\nVereeniging (ISDV), a communist-oriented political organization
\nthat later became the Indonesia Communist Party (PKI).<\/p>\n
Semaun's story shows that the Indonesian labor movement had
\nbeen closely associated with political movements and power-plays
\nfrom the early stages of its development.<\/p>\n
Some 30 years later, the PKI was a key political power and the
\nmoving force behind the powerful peasants' organization, Barisan
\nTani Indonesia (BTI), and the Sentral Organisasi Buruh Seluruh
\nIndonesia (SOBSI) union federation.<\/p>\n
SOBSI boasted the largest union membership in the country with
\nmore than 2.5 million workers.<\/p>\n
With this development, other political parties tried to curb
\nSOBSI's growing importance by establishing their own unions.<\/p>\n
The Indonesia National Party formed the Marhaenis Labor Union
\n(KBM), Nadhlatul Ulama established the Indonesian Muslim Labor
\nUnion (Sarbumusi), and Catholics founded the Ikatan Buruh
\nPantjasila Labor Union (IBP). Meanwhile, the Army sponsored the
\nformation of the All-Indonesia Employees' Central Organization
\n(SOKSI).<\/p>\n
The powerful SOBSI and all other PKI-affiliated organizations
\nwere liquidated after the failed 1965 coup, which was largely
\nblamed on the PKI.<\/p>\n
Soeharto, who rose to power after the coup, preferred economic
\nprogress to political freedom and thus put all unions under a
\nsingle, government-sanctioned Federation of All Indonesian
\nWorkers (FBSI), which later became the All-Indonesia Labor Union
\n(SPSI).<\/p>\n
This was a time when troops were regularly used to put an end
\nto strikes and labor demonstrations, and labor activists were
\nsent to jail or even murdered.<\/p>\n
The fall of Soeharto marked the beginning of a new chapter for
\nthe labor movement in the country.<\/p>",
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