'Better productivity should accompany salary increases'
'Better productivity should accompany salary increases'
JAKARTA (JP): The chairman of the Indonesian Employers Association said yesterday that salary increases should be accompanied by improved performance and productivity.
"Workers can always demand a salary increase, but in return they should increase working productivity for the companies' survival," Suratnohadisuwito told The Jakarta Post.
Suratno was commenting on the media reports on the proposal for a salary hike by the Jakarta Commission on Wage Affairs, a government watchdog agency whose membership consists of workers, companies and government officials.
The proposal has yet to be officially submitted to the association.
The Commission has proposed a 17.5 percent salary increase from the current daily wage of Rp 4,600 to Rp 5,400 ($2.5), which the Jakarta branch of the SPSI labor union hopes to implement next year.
Companies are willing to help the workers, but they should also help their employers on a reciprocal basis, Suratno said. "We cannot just give the increase for free."
He said when the proposal is sent, the Association should, according to the procedure, first be studied by the governor before being approved by the Minister of Manpower.
Fauzi Ibrahim, chief of SPSI's Jakarta branch, said earlier that the Commission's proposal was based on how workers could live better than they do at present.
The new salary is designed to improve worker welfare, which includes health care and housing allowances. "Present wages only cover food and clothing," he said.
He said the Jakarta Governor had agreed with the proposal and he hoped that the Manpower Minister would approve it by early next year.
According to Fauzi, the proposal of a 17.5-percent salary raise is reasonable considering the yearly inflation rate of almost 10 percent.
Meanwhile, a Manpower Ministry official in charge of wage affairs, L.E. Lubis, told the Post that the proposal to increase salaries had not been sent to him from the Jakarta governor.
He noted, however, that the Commission should decide on a reasonable increase, without posing an additional expense burden on companies, many of which are still not well established.(03)