Bill allows workers, employers to take disputes to court

The Jakarta Post Jakarta

The House of Representatives is expected to pass soon a long- awaited bill on the settlement of industrial disputes, which will allow workers and employers to take their disputes to labor courts.

The bill, which was drafted to update Law No. 22/1957 on industrial disputes and Law No. 14/1964 on labor dismissals, stipulates that workers and employers can take their disputes to the courts should they fail to resolve them through bipartite and tripartite negotiations.

According to the bill, district courts in all regencies and cities will have labor courts, consisting of career judges and ad hoc judges representing employers and workers.

"(A)ll decisions made by the labor courts will be binding," according to the bill, although workers and employers can appeal the verdicts to the Supreme Court.

The new bill phases out the local and central committees for the settlement of labor disputes, tripartite institutions set up under the current law to resolve disputes.

These tripartite institutions, representing workers, employers and the government, were found to be ineffective because their decisions were not binding and unable to be executed.

The draft law, which has already been deliberated by the House and the government, also suggests tripartite negotiations mediated by a government officer, conciliation by neutral third parties and arbitration to resolve disputes before they are taken to the courts.

The bill also regulates that only disputes concerning labor rights and interests, dismissals and unions are subject to negotiations and hearings at the courts.

Under the bill, workers are not allowed to go on strike while their disputes are in negotiation or being heard by the courts.

The bill threatens administrative sanctions or the revocation of licenses for government mediators, conciliators and arbitrators who violate any of the articles of the law. Those involved in disputes found guilty of violations are subject to one-month imprisonment or a maximum fine of Rp 50 billion (US$4.5 million).

The bill has been applauded by both employers and labor unions, who say that besides speeding up dispute resolutions, the bill also will provide legal certainty.

Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea said the bill would provide workers legal certainty about their rights and employers about their investment, especially with the start of the ASEAN Free Trade Area next year.

"This law will encourage all workers to be competitive and investors to comply with the labor law," said Nuwa Wea, who is also the chairman of the All-Indonesia Workers Union Federation.

Muchtar Pakpahan hailed the bill, saying it was based on a draft law proposed by a number of trade unions, including the Indonesian Prosperity Trade Union (SBSI), which he leads.

"The SBSI and other major unions generally support the bill," he told The Jakarta Post by telephone from Jayapura, Papua.

Ariest Merdeka Sirait, the chairman of the Jakarta, Bogor and Bekasi Labor Union, said the bill had been needed for a long time because of the restrictions placed on labor unions nationwide.

Djimanto, the secretary-general of the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo), said none of the employers under Apindo objected to the bill, adding that striking workers should not be paid.

"We are all of the same opinion that no work equals no pay. Workers going on strike should not be paid because there is no products when workers are striking," he said.

The labor conditions in Indonesia have attracted international attention. The ongoing meeting of the International Labor Organization and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions in Geneva has criticized the restrictions placed on labor unions in numerous regions in the country.

The bill is scheduled to be passed into law on July 15.