New bill on right to form unions passed<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The House of Representatives on Monday
\nunanimously passed a new bill on the rights of workers to
\nunionize.<\/p>\n
Minister of Manpower Bomer Pasaribu and legislators separately
\nsaid that the law gives more assurance to workers' rights to
\norganize compared to previous laws.<\/p>\n
In a departure from previous policies, civil servants are now
\nexplicitly given the right to unionize. The law also mandates the
\ngovernment to issue a new regulation on the establishment of
\nunions by civil servants. For decades they were obligated to join
\nthe Indonesian Civil Servants' Corps (Korpri), which is not a
\nunion.<\/p>\n
Speaking at a House plenary session, Bomer said the new law
\nalso guarantees freedom for those who do not want to join unions,
\nin line with the 1948 Convention on the Freedom of Association of
\nthe International Labor Organization.<\/p>\n
"The guarantee of freedom of association is reflected in the
\nsimple requirements to form a union, which is the need for only
\n10 workers," Bomer said. Past regulations require at least 25
\nworkers to form one union.<\/p>\n
The law also states that one of the functions of a union is to
\norganize, execute, and be accountable for workers' strikes.<\/p>\n
An earlier ministerial decree defined unions as organizations
\nwhich channel members' aspirations and that they are "a partner
\nof management and government in building harmonious industrial
\nrelations based on principles of Pancasila."<\/p>\n
Critics earlier said the guarantee of the right to strike was
\nmissing in the draft of the bill.<\/p>\n
The law states that dissolution of a union could be done by
\nits members, by the closure of the company, or by a court order.
\nThe court could move to dissolve a union if it was considered to
\nhave endangered security as defined in the Criminal Code.<\/p>\n
Romawati Sinaga of the National Front for Indonesian Workers
\nStruggle, which is preparing a joint statement to reject the
\nbill, said only members should be allowed to dissolve a union.<\/p>\n
Bomer said that "there should be no concerns about this
\nbecause the prerequisites for a court to disband a union are very
\nlimited, namely when the union has committed a crime against the
\nstate."<\/p>\n
The law also covers the establishment of federations, formed
\nby at least five unions, and confederations, comprised of at
\nleast three federations. The structure of such unions are
\ndetermined by their respective statutes.<\/p>\n
A worker may only be a member of one union in one company.
\n(10)<\/p>",
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