'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)