Daily wage system must go, says Latief

Daily wage system must go, says Latief

JAKARTA (JP): The government promised yesterday to take a hard
line on companies who pay workers by day for an unlimited period,
and keep workers in a limbo of unclear employment status.

Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief said yesterday the
government could no longer tolerate employers who pay their
workers by day as a matter of course.

"Workers in many companies have been getting paid by day for
15 to 20 years. This must not keep happening. We must remedy this
situation," he told journalists after meeting President Soeharto.

Latief acknowledged the practice is so common that employees
have a specific expression for these workers.

In future, the minister said, workers should be given a
standard three-month probation period before the employer decides
whether he will give them a permanent job or contract them for a
certain period.

Latief said many employees are paid for only six days a week
although a 1951 labor law requires workers to be given one day
off every week on seven days worth of pay.

"Even during the Dutch colonial period, workers got a paid day
off. So we want to correct this situation," Latief said.

President Soeharto was quoted by Latief as also admitting that
many employers trample workers' rights. The President means to
change current labor practices, he said.

Latief also gave account on the implementation of the new
minimum regional wage standards in the provinces that took effect
on the first of this month.

He disclosed that so far 160 companies have asked for a
postponement of the wage hike, claiming not to have the money to
implement the government's policy.

The government has accepted four firms' requests for pay hike
postponements and rejected one. The rest are yet to provide more
data to support their requests.

In a separate move, deputy chief of the official Federation of
Indonesian Workers Union (FSPSI) Wilhelmus Boka, hailed the
government's initiative to tighten up the wage system.

He proposed that the minimum wage level system be applied to
monthly, not daily, wages and that workers should be entitled to
keep their wages for their days-off.

The Association of Indonesian Businesses (APINDO) has voiced
their objection to paying workers minimum wages on a monthly
basis on the grounds that this would pose an additional financial
burden.

APINDO officials have warned that this month's 10.6 percent
raise in minimum wage levels would jack up production costs so
high that it may deter foreign investors.

Boka said APINDO's worries about a negative impact of the
minimum wage policy are unfounded, Antara reported.

Foreign interest in East Java, West Java and Jakarta as well
as the other provinces remains high, he argued. (pan)