Employers blamed for labor strikes

Employers blamed for labor strikes

JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Manpower wants employers to stop
complaining about the government's failure to control labor
strikes.

Sabar Sianturi, the ministry's director of industrial
relations, said Monday managements should respect workers' rights
if they want to reduce strikes and riots.

"Managements should take the blame for the recent strikes,
including the one in Tangerang last week. Workers are unlikely to
strike without reason," he said.

Striking, as a last effort, was not illegal, he said.

Also Monday, employers grouped in the Indonesian Footwear
Association (Aprisindo) and the Association of Indonesian
Textiles (API) said non-governmental organizations were behind
the recent labor strikes.

They called on the government to take action against them.

Last week about 10,000 workers from PT Hardaya Aneka Shoes
Industry marched twice to Tangerang council to demand they be
paid the minimum wage. On Friday protesters damaged cars outside
the factory, including a ministry official's car.

Tangerang saw at least three separate strikes involving about
1,500 workers this week.

Two hundred workers from PT KAHO Citra Garment, North Jakarta,
went to the ministry's South Jakarta office to demand overtime
pay. No violence was reported.

Aprisindo chairman Anton Supit said more than 100 footwear
factories in Indonesia have complained about the increasing
number of strikes.

The strikes affected production and raised uncertainty among
overseas buyers, Anton said.

"If the authorities don't handle strikes, especially ones
leading to violence and brutality, we will lose our foreign
buyers. The government's income from exports will decrease and
unemployment will worsen," Anton said.

He said foreign buyers of famous-brand shoes such as Nike,
Reebok and Adidas were turning to shoes produced in China,
Vietnam and the Philippines. Indonesia's business climate was now
considered uncertain and unhealthy, he said.

"Last week's strike by PT Hardaya workers in Tangerang was
intolerable," Anton said,

He said most labor-intensive companies in the country would
collapse. Foreign investors would relocate factories to other
countries if the government did not maintain an attractive
investment climate, he said.

Lendo Novo, AIP's secretary-general, said the government
should rule exemptions from paying minimum wages in labor-
intensive sectors.

"The government cannot treat labor-intensive companies like
capital-intensive ones," he said.

Lendo said garment and footwear companies spent 60 percent of
their income on importing raw materials, 28 percent on overheads,
bank interest and tax, while labor costs were about 16 percent.

"Our profit margin is only about four percent," he said.

He said managements would pay the minimum wage if workers
improved productivity.

"How can we pay workers more if their productivity is so low?"
Lendo said.

Last year, API and Aprisindo threatened to take Minister Abdul
Latief to the Jakarta Administrative Court over his controversial
ruling that workers should be paid for 30 days a month.

Sabar said labor-intensive companies were unlikely to get
minimum wage exemptions, because they were set without
considering productivity.

"Companies having difficulties paying the minimum wage can
apply for postponement or exemption," he said.

He said more than 70 of the 200 companies that applied have
been allowed to postpone, or were exempted.

Eighteen of the 32 labor-intensive companies that applied had
their submissions accepted.

The government raised minimum wages by an average of 10.7
percent beginning April. In Greater Jakarta it was raised from Rp
152,000 to Rp 186,000 a month. (rms)