Striking bus drivers bemoan paltry wages<\/p>\n
By Ridwan Sijabat<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Manasal S., a 53-year-old father of two
\nchildren, lamented that luck had never been on his side and that
\nduring his 13 years as a bus driver with state-owned bus firm
\nPPD, he had never earned enough money to adequately support his
\nfamily.<\/p>\n
He said that the small monthly wage he brought home was the
\ncause of chronic bickering with his wife.<\/p>\n
\"My dear wife has been forced to work as a vendor in the
\nKramatjati market in East Jakarta to try to get some extra money
\nso that we can take care of my kids and pay for their schooling,\"
\nhe said in an interview with The Jakarta Post while participating
\nin a picket organized by the company's employees here on
\nThursday.<\/p>\n
Some of the bus crews continued the strike on Friday, but
\ntheir threat to blockade the streets failed to materialize.
\nMinister of Transportation and Telecommunication Agum Gumelar
\nwarned that the strike could dent the government's efforts to
\nheal the company.<\/p>\n
Manasal, who is paid Rp 430,000 (US$43) per month, was
\nfrustrated when the management turned him down last Friday for a
\nRp 150,000 loan to bring his ailing youngest daughter to hospital
\nto receive treatment for dengue fever.<\/p>\n
His wife was forced to borrow money from her family to pay for
\ntreatment for the girl at the UKI Hospital. She's in her fifth
\nyear at a state-run elementary school in East Jakarta.<\/p>\n
\"The following day, I drank a glass of insecticide to try and
\ndo away with myself, but my wife and neighbors took me to the
\nhospital for treatment,\" he said, wiping the tears from his
\nbloodshot eyes.<\/p>\n
He said he had applied for the loan because the hospital had
\nrefused to treat his daughter as he was no longer covered by the
\nstate-run social security insurance program (Jamsostek) as the
\ncompany had allegedly failed to pay the insurance premiums.<\/p>\n
Manasal said he had joined the strike to fight for improved
\nwelfare for state employees.<\/p>\n
\"All the bus crews, 5,500 men in total, have been the victims
\nof corruption at the management level.<\/p>\n
\"We bus drivers and conductors have come out on strike because
\nwe can no longer put up with the terrible conditions we have to
\nendure. We must have the courage to fight for what we want. We
\nare not begging, just demanding our rights,\" he said.<\/p>\n
A. Sajuri, another PPD bus driver, said his family had been
\nforced to move from one rented house to another despite his 15
\nyears of service with the company.<\/p>\n
\"I earned a wage of Rp 457,000 in January, but I received only
\nRp 290,000 of the money in February after Rp 160,000 was deducted
\nbecause I was absent for eight days,\" he complained.<\/p>\n
He said he hadn't paid the monthly rent for his house as he
\nhad yet to receive his wages for March.<\/p>\n
\"What triggered the walk out was the management's failure to
\npay our wages for the last two months,\" he asserted.<\/p>\n
Sajuri said the remuneration system for bus drivers and
\nconductors in the company was inhumane as they were paid only Rp
\n250,000 at the lowest end of the scale and Rp 500,000 at the
\nhighest.<\/p>\n
\"The wage levels in the company are below the government-set
\nmonthly minimum wage for the capital and its environs,\" he said,
\nciting his eldest son who has been employed as an office boy in a
\ntextile company in Ciracas, East Jakarta, and who receives around
\nRp 750,000 per month.<\/p>\n
Sajuri, however, said that during his 15 years of service with
\nthe company on low wages, he had nevertheless been able to put
\nhis five children through senior high school.<\/p>\n
\"Given these conditions, no PPD employee will be able to send
\nhis children to university so that they can escape from the
\npoverty trap ... none of our children will ever get big
\ngovernment jobs,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Makmur Ginting, secretary of the Indonesian Prosperous Labor
\nUnion (SBSI)'s PPD chapter, said that he and the other employees
\nwere demanding that the government reorganize the state-owned
\ncompany to allow them to improve their own welfare.<\/p>\n
He said the strike would continue until the government make
\nsignificant changes in the company's management.<\/p>\n
\"It is not fair to demand higher wages while the company
\nremains unhealthy financially,\" said Makmur, a father of two
\nyoung children.<\/p>",
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