Batam employers oppose wage rise

Batam employers oppose wage rise

Fadli, The Jakarta Post/Batam

Businesspeople oppose Riau Islands acting governor Ismeth
Abdullah's plan to review the monthly minimum wage of Rp 635,000
(US$70.50) on the industrial island of Batam.

Representatives of the Indonesian Employers Association
(Apindo), the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin)
and operators of local industrial areas met with members of the
Batam legislative council on Monday to express their opposition
to any wage hike.

The chairman of the Riau Islands Apindo branch, Abidin, said
his office would sue Ismeth should the governor push forward with
a plan to increase the 2005 minimum wage from Rp 635,000, which
was set during a tripartite meeting in Batam on Oct. 29.

Abidin quoted the head of the Riau Islands Manpower Office,
Azman Taufik, as saying the government had promised to revise
Batam's minimum wage in a response to a recent demonstration by
thousands of workers.

"This promise shows that the governor acted on his own without
considering the outcome of the tripartite meeting. Therefore, we
will sue the governor through the state administrative court," he
told four Batam councillors who received the businesspeople.

Abidin said workers' demand that the minimum wage be increased
to Rp 728,000 a month was "unrealistic" for domestic and foreign
investors in Batam.

Any move to increase the wage would deter investors from
coming to Batam, he said.

"We communicated the tripartite decision on the new wage for
the island city to prospective investors and none of them
objected to it. If the wage was raised, they would certainly
cancel investments here," Abidin said.

The secretary of the Federation of Indonesian Metal Workers,
Deny Rifa'i, said Ismeth would meet with labor activists on
Tuesday to hear their views on the new minimum wage for 2005.

If the Batam government refuses to set the new wage at Rp
728,000, thousands of FSPMI members will strike in Batam, Deny
said.

"If the governor does not want to revise the wage, we will
stage a major strike to press for the fulfillment of our demand,"
he said.

Deny said that at the Oct. 29 tripartite meeting that set the
new wage at Rp 635,000, the workers were represented by
"irresponsible people". He did not identify these people.

Muhammad Kholiq of Commission IV of the Batam council said he
wished workers and employers had reached a decision on the new
minimum wage before the tripartite meeting issued a decision on
the matter.