Labor woes aplenty<\/p>\n
What is a manpower minister's primary job? The answer that
\nfirst comes to most people's minds seems simple enough. First and
\nforemost, as his title indicates, it is to oversee labor
\nrelations in this country, especially to protect workers against
\nexploitation by miserly employers, and then to let the market's
\nsupply and demand mechanisms take care of the rest.<\/p>\n
However, Indonesia's labor woes, long simmering underneath the
\nsurface and only reemerging at the onset of the reform movement
\nin recent years, show the matter to be far more complex than it
\nmay seem.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, the simple explanation cited above appears not
\nto be accepted by the majority of Indonesian workers. It is also
\nnot endorsed by the government -- at least, that is, if we agree
\nwith the view offered by Harijadi B. Sukamdani of the National
\nEconomic Recovery Committee (KPEN) during a media briefing in
\nJakarta on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
His view is shared by members of the Indonesian Employers
\nAssociation (Apindo) and other industry associations in this
\ncountry, whose members over the past few years have had to deal
\nwith a rising incidence of strikes and protests, often
\naccompanied by violence and even killings. These problems,
\naccording to Harijadi, mostly stem from the government's
\ninappropriate labor policies which, he said, are not only
\nshortsighted, but also discriminate against employers.<\/p>\n
Take, for example, Minister of Manpower Decree No.150\/2000,
\nwhich Harijadi describes as irrational. Under this decree
\nemployers must, among other things, provide severance pay for
\nemployees in the case of a termination of their employment, even
\nwhen they resign voluntarily. In response to this "irrational"
\nruling, the industrial associations have asked the Supreme Court
\nto undertake a judicial review of the decree. Manpower minister
\nAlhilal Hamdi, in turn, is said to have admitted to there being
\nflaws in the decree, but he has done nothing so far to correct
\nthem. Indonesia, industry association members have pointed out,
\nis the only country in the world to date that is known to have
\nsuch an irrational decree as the Manpower Minister's Decree
\nNo.150.<\/p>\n
It needs no expert to see that aside from the economic crisis
\nthat is affecting the lives of almost all Indonesians, a variety
\nof labor problems -- most particularly underpayment and lack of
\nadequate welfare arrangements for the workers, combined with
\nrising demands for higher pay and more equitable treatment -- has
\nhelped to lead Indonesia deeper and deeper into crisis with more
\nand more investors pulling out of the country.<\/p>\n
To mention just a few examples, labor disputes have affected
\nIndonesia's largest oil producer, PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia,
\nfor the last two years with no settlement yet in sight. The giant
\ncoal mining company PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) has also been
\nbadly affected. In fact, labor disputes have been plaguing a host
\nof sectors, including the mining, oil and gas, banking, hotel and
\nmanufacturing industries.<\/p>\n
That problems abound in the labor sector is obvious enough.
\nThe big question is, what can be done? Indonesia can ill afford
\ninvestors not only staying away from the country, but pulling out
\none by one. Apindo chairman Suparwanto seems to have the answer.
\n"We need a minister with a firm understanding of labor issues in
\nIndonesia," he advises. As things are, he said, the minister
\nappeared to be interested more in bolstering the government's
\nimage among labor unions than in creating real jobs for the
\ncountry's 6 million (official figure) unemployed. With the number
\nof disguised unemployed unavailable but estimated to be about
\ntwice as many, there certainly is a dire need for job creation.<\/p>\n
Indonesian officialdom likes to talk about preferring to give
\nthe people "the hooks rather than the fish". In the current
\ncontext that must mean giving more people jobs, however modest,
\nso they can earn an honest living. Eventually, and in not too
\nlong a time frame, of course, everybody's lot must be improved to
\nreach standards that equal, or if possible surpass, those that
\nprevail in some of the more advanced developing countries in the
\nworld. Scaring investors away from a country already beset by
\neconomic and financial woes is not the most effective way to
\nreach that goal.<\/p>\n
The answer to the question posed at the beginning, then, is
\nfor the manpower minister to find a balance that is viable under
\npresent circumstances between labor and industrial interests.
\nWhat is needed is not only a firm understanding of labor issues
\nin Indonesia, but of all the interconnected issues that in the
\nfinal analysis could lead to a true improvement in our workers'
\nlot.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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