Strikes drop drastically in E. Jakarta<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Industrial strikes in East Jakarta, where 2,000
\nfactories operate, have drastically decreased this year, possibly
\ndue to better welfare, a local official said yesterday.<\/p>\n
\"In the first semester of this year 60 strikes were
\nregistered, two in July, two in August and none in the last two
\nmonths,\" Iskandar, head of the labor standards section at the
\ncity manpower office, told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Data from the manpower office shows the number of labor
\nstrikes in East Jakarta reached almost 200 last year.<\/p>\n
East Jakarta is home to 2,000 companies, most of them in the
\nPulogadung industrial estate. Only 11 percent of the companies in
\nthe mayoralty have so far signed collective labor agreements
\n(KKB) with their workers.<\/p>\n
Iskandar hailed an operation, launched by the government
\nearlier this year, to enforce the labor law and rulings in all
\ncompanies in Greater Jakarta.<\/p>\n
\"The law threatens to bring employers, infringing regulations,
\nto court, and government officials found guilty of neglecting the
\nenforcement of the law will be punished,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Most industrial strikes and labor disputes in the past were
\ncaused mainly by the negligence of employers to abide by the
\nregulations, he said, adding there were alleged collusion between
\nemployers and government apparatus.<\/p>\n
\"The management is not 'illiterate' in law but they often
\nviolate it to optimally reduce labor costs,\" he said. \"We no
\nlonger maintain industrial and economic development at the
\nexpense of cheap labor wages.\"<\/p>\n
Reluctance<\/p>\n
He said almost all industrial strikes that occurred in the
\npast were staged by workers demanding higher wages and other
\nworker rights, such as the monthly leave for female workers,
\ntransportation and health allowances.<\/p>\n
Many labor activists and observers said reluctance of
\nemployers to give better welfare for workers at that time was
\ncaused mainly by the \"the invisible cost\" which had to be paid to
\ncertain groups and individuals in a bid to help facilitate their
\nbusinesses.<\/p>\n
Iskandar also blamed the rebel Indonesian Prosperous Labor
\nUnion (SBSI) and many local non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
\nfor masterminding industrial strikes in the past.<\/p>\n
He said SBSI, which is not recognized by the government, and
\nNGOs were utilizing the strikes for the sake of the
\norganizations' own interests.<\/p>\n
\"Their objectives are not to make labor conditions better but
\nto \"earn life\" by discrediting the government in international
\nforums,\" he said. (rms)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/strikes-drop-drastically-in-e-jakarta-1447893297",
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