Economic crisis hits more female workers with layoffs

Economic crisis hits more female workers with layoffs

JAKARTA (JP): Female workers have become the prime target of
lay-offs and dismissals in Greater Jakarta, a women's
organization said.

The Indonesian Women's Association for Justice (APIK), which
has been monitoring labor relations in Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang
and Bekasi, said over the weekend that pregnant workers were the
number one target of dismissals.

Spokeswoman for the association Sriwiyanti said other common
victims were female workers on menstrual leave, those viewed as
having the potential to lead labor strikes, and women approaching
pensionable age.

Women make up 57.7 percent of textile, garment, and shoe
factory workers, sales assistants, migrant workers and domestic
helpers, according to the association.

In the industrial sector, women generally work in positions
which are vulnerable to dismissal, and in many other sectors they
have no legal protection at all, Sriwiyanti said.

"Women working in the informal sector, such as domestic
helpers and migrant workers, are commonly abused, mistreated,
denied regular payment and forced to work unpaid overtime," she
said as quoted by Antara.

Employers are using the worsening economic crisis to justify
the current wave of lay-offs and dismissals, Sriwiyanti added.

"There is no question that the crisis has led many companies
to the brink of bankruptcy, but a lot of companies which have not
been badly affected had used the issue to dismiss employees in
the name of efficiency," she claimed.

Worse still, she pointed out, some companies were using the
economic crisis to force through wage cuts among their employees
and to justify withholding allowances.

In connection with international labor day that fell on May 1,
APIK called on the government to do more to stop employers from
arbitrarily dismissing employees, to take action against
companies who exploited workers, and to punish owners who closed
down companies, resulting in large job losses, without going
through the proper procedures.

It also urged the government to provide better legal
protection to female workers who have fallen victim to the
economic crisis, adding that government economic policies should
have the interests of ordinary people at heart. (pan)