The development of Indonesian labor unions<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Decision makers have had enough of high profile
\nunions.<\/p>\n
The basis for the first Indonesian unions early in the 20th
\ncentury, explains Australia-based historian John Ingleson, was
\nthe communities the workers set up in the cities.<\/p>\n
These communities were established as the important port
\ncities in the East Indies, like Batavia (Jakarta) and Surabaya,
\ngrew.<\/p>\n
Rural migrants came in search of work, especially in the
\ntransportation field. This was a vital sector because the
\nNetherlands depended on spices and other items to come by rail
\nfrom the villages.<\/p>\n
It was Dutch employees who initiated the first unions, like
\nthe Union of Rail and Tramway Workers (VSTP), formed in 1908.<\/p>\n
As the workers became aware of racial inequalities, and as
\ninflation made things more expensive, they began to strongly
\nsupport the unions and their strikes.<\/p>\n
With budding nationalism, the leadership of political
\norganizations and unions became interlinked, Ingleson noted.<\/p>\n
Under the Japanese occupation, the labor activists went
\nunderground while the compulsory army training taught them how to
\norganize.<\/p>\n
A flurry of activity ensued during the national revolution as
\nworkers took part in overtaking Dutch enterprises.<\/p>\n
After independence in 1945, government officials began to feel
\nuneasy about unions having a free reign. A former labor minister
\nnoted that gradually the government began to control workers.<\/p>\n
The late Iskandar Tedjasukmana describes in his 1958 study of
\nlabor policy the first controversial moves against the right to
\nstrike. The spirit that workers had displayed while ousting the
\nDutch was declared illegal by Prime Minister Mohammad Natsir in a
\n1951 martial law decree.<\/p>\n
Before the decree, Tedjasukmana summed up the contemporary
\nview that, "It is taken for granted that the Government stands at
\nthe side of the workers in their struggle against exploitation
\nand oppression." Naive, is what that statement would be called
\ntoday.<\/p>\n
The first vice president, Mohammad Hatta, felt that some order
\nwas needed to attract foreign investors.<\/p>\n
Ironically, workers had been encouraged to organize by Hatta's
\nNovember 1945 proclamation outlining the need for civilians to
\nform as many parties as possible to strengthen Indonesian
\nsociety.<\/p>\n
The New Order government forbade bureaucrats to join any other
\nunion except KORPRI, which belongs to the "family" of the ruling
\nGolkar party and the military.<\/p>\n
This is because workers are prized objects of power claimed by
\nparties from the right, left and the military. The claim that 2
\nmillion workers were affiliated to the Indonesian Communist Party
\nin the late 1950s caused sheer fright among many people in
\npositions of power.<\/p>\n
The widespread trauma of bickering politicians and a shattered
\neconomy, led to proposals for labor organizations that could
\nproperly address workers' welfare.<\/p>\n
The former Minister of Information, the late Ali Moertopo,
\nturned Karl Marx's teachings upside down in his 1975 book
\npublished by the Center of Strategic International Studies.
\nWorkers, he wrote, are "partners in development" through
\n"Pancasila Industrial Relations".<\/p>\n
These ideas have been adopted and are based on the three
\nJavanese principals of a sense of belonging, a sense of
\nresponsibility, and self introspection by both employer and
\nemployee.<\/p>\n
Under such an ideology, and in an environment where investment
\nwas encouraged regardless of an employers' obligations,
\nbewildered workers who asked about minimum wages were subjected
\nto the dreaded charge of being "non-Pancasilaist".<\/p>\n
Today, there is still no agreement on the proper place to
\narticulate workers' grievances.<\/p>\n
Rather than challenge watchful eyes, the young Indonesians who
\nare so vital in developing the nation, find it much safer
\ngrouping themselves by their original rural kampongs, regardless
\nof what unions or non-governmental organizations claim. (anr)<\/p>",
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