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)