Employees still complain of unfair treatment
Emmy Fitri, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
What do workers do when they get together? They share stories about their daily workload and how their companies treat them. And, more often than not, they are telling the same story: that they are subject to unfair treatment and need improved conditions.
"I've been working for more than 10 years and I'm still paid Rp 380,000 per month, while a friend of mine working in another company already gets Rp 500,000. Is it fair?" asked Taufik during the two-day congress of the Greater Jakarta Workers Union (SBJ), which was opened on Monday in Cibubur, East Jakarta.
"When I asked my boss, he just said that I was lucky to still be paid and if I didn't like it I could leave at any time," Taufik, who works for a garment factory in Bogor, said.
The current minimum regional salary for Jakarta is Rp 426,250 (US$43) per month.
Another worker, Rini Supiati from Cimanggu, Bogor, said she could not accept her company's policy of conducting physical examinations of women requesting menstruation leave.
"Isn't it against human rights? There is a regulation that allows female workers to take leave when that have their monthly period," she said.
Speaking at the meeting was former labor activist Teten Masduki, who is now active in Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), and Poengky Indarti, head of the labor division at the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation.
Both Teten and Poengky agreed that labor unions should play a role in solving the problems. The fact remains, however, that unions are still powerless when dealing with employers.
According to Poengky, after the downfall of former president Soeharto, workers were free to establish unions. Since October 1999, she has recorded at least 58 unions representing factory workers.
According to Teten's records, however, the number has reached 102, which includes unions for employees of state-owned companies.
Most of the time, the newly established unions have failed to respond to the employees' needs because they are still learning how to organize and compete with other workers' unions in recruiting members.
Poengky even suspects that the government relaxed the requirements for the establishment of labor unions intentionally in order to prevent them from establishing strong influence.
The government-affiliated All-Indonesian Workers Union (SPSI) even moved fast to expand, establishing federations throughout the country.
"Worker unions failed to seize the moment so that now they are still busy organizing and competing with one another to recruit members," Poengky said.
Poengky was also concerned that some union leaders had admitted that their goals were to create "harmonious ties with the government, capital owners and the workers".
"It seems that they still believe that the focus of the labor movement is in the hands of the government and the capital owners. Workers should be empowered to achieve bargaining power that is equal with government's and capital owners'," Poengky stressed.
Teten even said that in industrial areas like Jakarta and Tangerang, workers were "guided" by groups like the Jakarta Workers Union and the National Front for Indonesian Workers (FNBI), which was associated with the Democratic People's Party (PRD).
Unlike the manufacturer workers, Teten added, the workers at the state-owned companies were more independent in their unions, meaning that the establishment, programs and other missions were decided by themselves and they did not depend on other parties, such as non-governmental organizations.