Latief makes changes for Indonesia's workers<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The ink on his decree to raise the minimum wages
\nwas barely dry when Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief disclosed
\nhis intention to raise the level even further next April.<\/p>\n
\"My goal is to lift the minimum wages to as high as the
\nminimum physical need and this must start as of April,\" Latief
\ntold The Jakarta Post in a recent interview.<\/p>\n
Within the first year of his job, Latief managed to raise the
\nminimum wage levels in the country to almost the level of minimum
\nphysical requirement, which is really the bare minimum
\nsubsistence level.<\/p>\n
Now, almost completing his second year and entering his third,
\nhe is changing the yardstick, going beyond simply minimum
\nphysical requirements into minimum basic needs, which also covers
\nhealth and education needs.<\/p>\n
This he will phase in starting in April. In Jakarta, the daily
\nminimum wage level will be increased to Rp 4,600 from Rp 3,800.<\/p>\n
Latief said that by the end of the current Sixth Five Year
\nPlan, the minimum wages will be as high as the basic needs. \"This
\nmeans a worker, with his monthly salary, will be able to cover
\nall his daily needs.<\/p>\n
A former businessman with strong business intuition (he built
\nthe Sarinah Jaya business empire from scratch), Latief said there
\nare no excuses whatsoever for companies not granting their
\nworkers the minimum wage levels set by the government.<\/p>\n
He also confirmed that Indonesia has no intention of remaining
\na safe haven for foreign companies looking for cheap labor as it
\nhas been in the past, often at the expense of depressing the
\nwages level.<\/p>\n
Latief promised to get tough with employers who violate the
\nminimum wage level. He acknowledged that the high \"invisible\"
\ncosts of doing business in Indonesia has played a big factor in
\ncausing companies to keep wages low to make savings on their
\noverall costs.<\/p>\n
But the wage level has not monopolized Latief's preoccupation.<\/p>\n
The minister has also been busy with designing programs to
\nupgrade the skills of Indonesian workers, about 76 percent of
\nwhom have only primary education background.<\/p>\n
He recently introduced his apprenticeship program, using the
\nministry's vocational training centers as the core of the scheme
\nand enlisting the participation of companies.<\/p>\n
This, he views, is a short cut to strengthening the skills of
\nIndonesian workers and therefore enhance their productivity.<\/p>\n
Then there is the biggest headache of all -- unemployment,
\nwhich is estimated at over 29 million if one includes the
\nunderemployed rural workers.<\/p>\n
Latief said he hopes that many of the programs he initiated
\nwill all be running well by the time his five-year appointment in
\nthe cabinet is up in 1998.<\/p>\n
\"I want to be able to do 'a little' something for workers,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
He also had this to say in answer to his critics who
\nrepeatedly attacked him for his union policy. \"I think it is
\nwrong when certain people at home and abroad criticize the
\ngovernment merely over labor organization issue because it
\nconstitutes a small part of the overall labor problems facing
\nIndonesia.\" (rms)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/latief-makes-changes-for-indonesias-workers-1447893297",
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