Council tells governor to revise minimum wage

Council tells governor to revise minimum wage

The City Council sent a letter to Governor Sutiyoso on Tuesday,
demanding that he revise the decree on the minimum wage for
Jakarta.

City Council Commission E on education, health, and people's
welfare chairman Dani Anwar said that the council requested the
governor to increase the minimum wage of Rp 711,843 (US$79),
which had already been set in the decree, to Rp 759,532 as
demanded by the workers' association.

The latter figure is the estimated minimum cost of living in
Jakarta, based on a joint survey conducted in July by the city
administration, workers associations and employers associations.

"All parties, particularly the employers associations, must
respect the result of the survey," Dani said.

He emphasized that workers would face difficulties next year
if the employers did not take into account the additional
expenses, triggered by the planned 40 percent increase in fuel
prices.

The fuel price hike will eventually lead to an increase in the
prices of staple foodstuffs and transportation.

The letter was sent a day after nearly 1,000 workers staged a
protest in front of the City Council and City Hall in Central
Jakarta.

During the meeting with Commission E, the workers association
representatives demanded that the governor revise the
gubernatorial decree on the minimum wage. They also demanded that
the commission facilitate a meeting with Sutiyoso.

They threatened to deploy a larger number of workers if their
demands were ignored.

However, Dani could not guarantee that the governor would
revoke his decree after receiving the letter.

A number of workers said that the gubernatorial decree was
against existing regulations because Law No. 13/2003 on manpower
stipulates that every citizen is entitled to a proper livelihood.
-- JP