Latief fights to improve workers' welfare<\/p>\n
By Ridwan M. Sijabat<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Is it possible for a businessman here to make a
\ndecision that benefits workers? Braveheart businessman and
\nminister Abdul Latief has.<\/p>\n
During the last three years of his tenure in office, Latief,
\nin his capacity as minister of manpower, has issued dozens of
\ndecrees to improve labor conditions. It is Latief who annually
\nissues decrees on increases in monthly minimum wages. He has
\nphased out the ambiguous \"daily status\" often given to low-
\nranking workers and made annual Idul Fitri allowances compulsory
\nfor all companies.<\/p>\n
The last hike raised minimum wages 10.7 percent and is set to
\ntake effect April 1.<\/p>\n
His controversial rulings, to which fellow businesspeople have
\noften objected, have led to his increasing popularity among
\nworkers as well as the domestic and foreign press.<\/p>\n
\"I have taken these steps not to seek popularity or get
\nSoeharto's attention but to improve our criticized labor record,\"
\nhe said on board his airplane flying from Jakarta to East Java,
\nwhere he was going on an industrial tour.<\/p>\n
He said labor conditions would continue to improve, regardless
\nof foreign and local criticism.<\/p>\n
\"We must concede that our labor record in the past was not as
\ngood as it is now. But much progress has been made,\" he said,
\nadding it could not be done in a day.<\/p>\n
Latief is the founder and president of ALatieF Corporation,
\nwhich operates in retail, hotel, handicraft and shrimp pond
\nbusinesses. He expressed his one-time obsession to raise current
\nmonthly minimum wage levels to 125 percent of the minimum basic
\nliving needs of a single person by the end of the Sixth Five-Year
\nDevelopment Plan.<\/p>\n
\"By 1998, minimum wage levels should reach 125 percent of the
\nminimum basic living needs because the current wage levels meet
\nnearly 107 percent of basic needs,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He warned, however, that minimum wages were only given for
\nworkers who were employed for less than one year. He said workers
\nwho have been employed more than a year should be paid in
\naccordance to the remuneration system regulated in the collective
\nlabor agreement between a company's management and workers. The
\nagreement is supposed to be reviewed every two years.<\/p>\n
\"Almost all of the 40,000 mid-scale and big companies in
\nIndonesia pay their workers wages that are far higher than those
\nset by minimum wage regulations,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Violations<\/p>\n
\"However, many companies have violated minimum wage
\nregulations or have requested to be exempted from the regulations
\nbecause they are mismanaged. No companies have gone bankrupt for
\npaying their workers in accordance to regulations.\"<\/p>\n
Last year, Latief was threatened by lawsuits from textile and
\ngarment companies for his controversial rulings enforcing
\nmanagements to pay their workers for 30 days, instead of 25 days,
\na month and phasing out the unclear status of daily workers.<\/p>\n
\"I have never been scared in the face of such lawsuits,
\nprotests, or objections because I follow a true path. I have been
\npawning my life for the sake of workers.\"<\/p>\n
He said local and foreign investors should be proud of
\nIndonesia's workers, who still accept low pay in an otherwise
\nbooming economy.<\/p>\n
Many companies, especially labor-intensive ones, have
\ncomplained that the increasing invisible costs and levies they
\nhave to pay to government offices and agencies and security
\nauthorities have forced them to reduce their labor costs to the
\nminimum.<\/p>\n
Last year, Latief invited several other ministers and
\nexecutives from the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
\n(KADIN) to slash the legal and illegal levies imposed on
\ncompanies.<\/p>\n
As a result, several government ministries, including the
\nMinistry of Manpower, and provincial administrations slashed the
\nnumber of legal levies and imposed stiffer penalties on officials
\nfound guilty of demanding illegal payments from companies.<\/p>\n
Latief, who was once dubbed Mr. UMR (for upah minimum
\nregional, or regional minimum wage), expressed his satisfaction
\nwith the government's and the managements' goodwill and efforts
\nto cut down on the invisible costs that hinder companies from
\npaying their workers according to government regulations.<\/p>\n
He appealed to employers to comply with the \"Pancasila
\nindustrial relations,\" respect workers' rights and maintain
\nindustrial harmony to prevent labor disputes, riots and strikes
\nin their estates.<\/p>\n
He warned that industrial strikes and riots would cause losses
\nboth to managements and workers. He said that managements should
\nlearn from the recent rioting at a textile factory in Sumedang,
\nWest Java, which caused massive material losses to the
\nmanagement. Hundreds of workers burned four cars and stoned
\nseveral buildings in the estate following the management's
\nfailure to pay workers their Idul Fitri holiday allowance on
\ntime.<\/p>\n
But he stopped short of supporting the workers' one-sided
\naction and failure to follow procedures for demanding their
\nrights.<\/p>\n
\"The burning action was completely unjustifiable and
\nintolerable. Workers are allowed to stay away from work to
\nprotest a management's failure to respect their rights.\"<\/p>\n
Latief, who is divorced and lives with his three sons and one
\ndaughter, said he has no plans to get married again because of
\nthe time demanded by his job and children.<\/p>\n
He acknowledged that since his appointment as minister of
\nmanpower in March 1993, he has delegated much of his private
\ncorporate authority to others within his corporation.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/latief-fights-to-improve-workers-welfare-1447893297",
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