Seaport laborer's value is only Rp 2.6 per kilogram in Batam<\/p>\n
Fadli, The Jakarta Post, Batam<\/p>\n
Across from the bustling Batu Ampar port in Nagoya on Batam
\nisland one can often see the pristine skyscrapers of Singapore,
\nwhich is only 20 kilometers away and reachable in 45 minutes by
\nferry.<\/p>\n
Perspiration glistens on the laborers' bodies. Perspiration
\nfrom their daily arduous toil. This sweaty scene is in contrast
\nwith the sleek and chic passengers boarding and getting off the
\nluxurious ferry nearby.<\/p>\n
A huge vessel, with a Vietnamese flag, carrying a shipment of
\nrice, anchors close to the pier. The workers rush to a truck -
\noften called a \"lorry\" in Batam. A crane starts moving the sacks
\nof rice from the ship.<\/p>\n
A group of three laborers start arranging the sacks in three
\npiles and soon the lorry is full. It takes three workers to fill
\nup the lorry with a three-ton-capacity, while the other two
\narrange the sacks, each weighing thirty kilograms, on the crane.<\/p>\n
This strenuous work - demanding great physical strength and
\nendurance - is way out of proportion when one finds out the kind
\nof wages earned by these port laborers. It becomes even more
\namazing when calculated per kilogram carried, which comes to only
\nRp 2.6.<\/p>\n
The entire group of five laborers is paid Rp 40,000 per three-
\nton truck.<\/p>\n
One of the port laborers, Parno - called Nono by close friends
\n- from Banyuwangi in East Java started working on the day he
\narrived in Batam in 1999. He said that the freight agency he
\nworks for had only raised his wages once since that time. Last
\nyear it was two rupiah per kilogram and now it is up to the
\naforementioned Rp 2.6 level. One tends to wonder whether this
\nkind of money amounts to anything in the current situation.<\/p>\n
The incongruity of it all becomes even more striking when one
\nnotes that the high-quality rice the laborers strain their
\nmuscles for is sold in the Batam markets at Rp 6,000 per
\nkilogram.<\/p>\n
\"It's tough to make ends meet. Batam is a tough place to make
\na living. But to go back home ... to me, that's the worst
\nembarrassment,\" Parno laments.<\/p>\n
Even getting the daily cheaply paid chores is an uncertainty
\nof its own kind. With a stroke of luck the laborers find
\nthemselves doing plenty on a given day. However, on average it is
\nonly three loads a day. Depending on the kindness of their
\ncoordinators, they sometimes have to accept rates lower than the
\none for handling the rice shipments.<\/p>\n
With his nominal wages, Parno and his colleagues of the same
\nprofession can only afford illegal dwelling places - called Ruli
\n- to subsist in Batam.<\/p>\n
These humble makeshift huts, wondrously homes to the laborers,
\nare now being vigorously eliminated by the Batam Administration.<\/p>\n
Renting rooms would be a disastrous option, as their monthly
\nwages would be nearly gone for the cost of the rooms, which in
\nBatam, ranges from Rp 200,000 up to Rp 300,000.<\/p>\n
Another laborer, Suryadi, from Klaten, Central Java, concurs
\nwith Parno's bitter comments that the wages are barely sufficient
\nfor life's basic needs. Realizing that raising two children does
\nnot come cheap, what with the next year's enrollment fee for the
\noldest to the elementary school, the 32-year-old man jumps from
\none odd job to another the rest of the day.<\/p>\n
\"How I wish the people up there (meaning: the freight company
\nmanagers) would be mindful enough to pay us wages that at least
\nmatch our primary needs and the work we contribute,\" says
\nSuryadi, who has completed only elementary school.<\/p>\n
The laborers' complaints apparently have fallen on deaf ears,
\nas the recently decreed minimum wage regulation by the Batam
\nAdministration does not apply to them. Only the dockyard workers
\nare categorized as skilled labor, whereas it has escaped the
\nregulators' minds that what these port laborers do, day in and
\nday out, is not less, but probably far more, demanding.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/seaport-laborers-value-is-only-rp-26-per-kilogram-in-batam-1447893297",
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