Labor problems 'due to same old system'<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Is workers staging strikes at the House of
\nRepresentatives or Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration day
\nafter day a good sign of people asserting their newly-found
\nfreedom of expression? Carmello C. Noriel at the Jakarta office
\nof the International Labor Organization (ILO) thinks not.<\/p>\n
The collapse of Soeharto's New Order regime might have brought
\nabout positive developments, such as the 1999 ratification of the
\ntrade union act, but freedom of expression is not enough to
\nrelieve workers from their suffering, he said.<\/p>\n
Rather than having to deal with the weaknesses of only one
\nunion (the SPSI, which was strongly controlled by Soeharto),
\nworkers now have at least 14 worker unions, but that has not
\nmaterialized greater opportunities for the protection of their
\ninterests.<\/p>\n
That is because two other bills -- on dispute settlement and
\nmanpower development, replacing the old Manpower Act -- have yet
\nto be ratified.<\/p>\n
"Three years and the laws have not yet been ratified. I don't
\nknow whether (it's because of) slowness, lack of concentration,
\nconfusion or competing priorities," he said.<\/p>\n
What is clear is that now more people are complaining about
\nthe presence of too many unions which are not contributing to the
\nbetterment of the workers' conditions.<\/p>\n
"You have created unions, but the old attitude and bureaucracy
\nare still the same," Noriel said in a recent interview assessing
\nthe employment crisis, which occurred after the 1997 economic
\nmeltdown.<\/p>\n
Noriel quoted a local official who revealed that labor
\ndisputes in 2000 doubled those of 1999, citing highly visible
\ncases such as the strike of Shangri-La Hotel workers or those of
\nPT Kadera in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Dispute settlement becomes an impossibility when even the
\nquestion of representation cannot be answered. The standing
\ntripartite formula -- which involves representatives of the
\nworkers, employers and government -- is difficult to implement
\nbecause there is more than one trade union representing the
\nworkers. Meanwhile the SPSI is still actually listed in the old
\nmembership.<\/p>\n
"The logical thing would be to institute a law that encourages
\ncollective bargaining and negotiation with employers to prevent
\nproblems and solve disputes quickly," Noriel said. "Later on you
\nmust establish an arbitration court which is streamlined, fair
\nand very fast. No monkey business."<\/p>\n
"That is the way to do it so the workers are satisfied, both
\nworkers and employers respect (the court's) decisions, and you
\ncan have a smooth-running dispute settlement system," he said.<\/p>\n
Noriel spoke of ILO Jakarta's plan to launch on May 1,
\ncoinciding with International Labor Day, a 24-month project in
\nsix provinces promoting sound labor relations in Indonesia by
\nhelping the three parties (government, employers and unions)
\nincrease their ability to implement the new labor legislation.<\/p>\n
The specific target groups in government will be the labor
\nofficers working at the district, provincial and headquarters
\nlevel, charged with the management of labor administrations which
\ninclude conciliators, mediators and labor inspectors.<\/p>\n
Other government target groups will be industrial judges and
\ntripartite laymen and women, as well as senior officials at the
\nMinistry of Manpower and Transmigration, the Ministry of Justice
\nand Human Rights, and the National Development Planning Board.<\/p>\n
The project will also target legislators to maintain the
\nmomentum for labor law reform and facilitate the full
\nimplementation of the new labor laws and regulations, Noriel
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Among the employers and workers, leadership at the apex and
\ngrassroots level will be the targeted. The actors in bipartite
\ninstitutions, like the work councils at the shop-floor level,
\nnegotiating councils at the enterprise level and other forms of
\nlabor management consultation and cooperation, as well as
\ntripartite institutions, will be targeted.<\/p>\n
The six provinces chosen for the program are Jakarta, West
\nJava, East Java, North Sumatra, Riau and East Kalimantan. The
\nproject will have offices in Jakarta, Surabaya, Samarinda, Medan
\nand Batam.<\/p>\n
How much does the absence of good labor management contribute
\nto the fact that Indonesia has yet to emerge from the crisis?<\/p>\n
"How come the laws of the old regime are still maintained
\nuntil now? They must be reformed, that must be the first
\npriority," Noriel said.<\/p>\n
"Of course people say: 'we are more democratic now'. But ask
\nanybody if they are really clear (about the extent of democratic
\nreform)?<\/p>\n
"What is more democratic about the labor policy now? How are
\npeople implementing it? Labor management is affected by the
\npolitical and economic situation of the country -- not many
\ncompanies are opening up, companies are downsizing and even
\nclosing down. These factors all contribute to labor unrest unless
\nthey are managed well," he said.<\/p>\n
Noriel suggests that Indonesia may have got its priorities
\nwrong by ratifying the trade union act before the bills on
\nworking standards and protection, and collective bargaining.
\n(swe)<\/p>",
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