Apindo OKs minimum wage

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian Employers' Association (Apindo) vowed on Thursday to comply with a court ruling ordering the implementation of the government's new minimum wage policy.

"Whatever the State Administrative Court decides, we'll implement it," Apindo chairman Suparwanto was quoted by detik.com as saying, following a meeting with the House of Representatives' Commission V on trade and industry.

He added that Apindo had told its members to prepare to pay for the new minimum wage to their workers.

The statement came after earlier reports that the State Administrative Court had overturned an earlier injunction which delayed the implementation of the Jakarta Gubernatorial Decree No. 3052/2001, requiring a 38 percent increase in the minimum monthly wage for Greater Jakarta to Rp 591,266 (about US$60).

The wage increase took effect on Jan. 1, 2002.

Apindo had previously warned that the new minimum wage policy would create serious trouble to businesses currently facing hard times amid rising electricity and telephone rates and fuel prices, as well as the impact of the recent economic crisis.

Apindo Deputy Chairman Djimanto had voiced fears that 80 percent of his group's members would either go bankrupt, or have to lay off mass numbers of employees to survive.