Employers told to treat workers better
Employers told to treat workers better
JAKARTA (JP): Governor Surjadi Soedirdja urged city employers
yesterday to treat their workers better by providing safer
facilities and creating a more democratic environment in the
workplace.
Quoting the findings of a city administration and University
of Indonesia's joint research project, City Workers' Problems,
Surjadi said there were six factors that could lead to conflicts
between employers and workers.
"They are: the minimum wage, workers' demands for an increase,
overtime fees, doing overtime, incompatible worker-employer
relationships and the lack of freedom to pursue their career or
education," he said.
If employers could pay extra attention to these six factors,
strikes or worker-employer conflicts could be sharply reduced,
Surjadi told a seminar on manpower here.
"In the past six years there have been 441 strikes recorded in
the city," he said.
Strikes can have a serious economic and political impact,
which, in turn, can disturb national stability because the
workers become their employers' opponent.
"That is why the government always gives serious attention to
the manpower issue.
"The administration plays an important political role by
managing the workers' organization and intervening in conflicts."
The industrial relations between employers and workers is a
very sensitive matter that potentially could create social
unrest, he said.
"That is why, the employer must start to listen to the
workers' needs instead of just exploiting them."
Once an open channel of communication has been established,
the government, the employers and the workers can build a better
understanding, he said.
"Employers can convey their aspirations through related
bodies, such as the local chamber of commerce, and the workers
through their labor unions," he said. "And the government --
through bureaucracy -- can help consolidate all the disputes."
The head of the city's Manpower Agency, R.D. Sudhartin, said
that Jakarta has managed to hold welfare training for employers
from 500 big companies here.
"There are currently 24,000 corporations in Jakarta. We can't
possibly train all of their employers at once but step by step we
can," Sudhartin said.
Governor Surjadi has previously expressed his concerns
regarding workers' lack of skills and knowledge.
"For instance, construction workers are unaware of the risks
of their work. They usually do not wear any safety belts or
helmets and they are often involved in fatal accidents," he said.
Surjadi once said that Indonesians had a tendency not to
respect their life and cases of dead workers had become
commonplace.
"That is why employers must improve their workers' habits to
ensure they obey safety rules," he said.
But it has to work both ways.
"If the employers just want to make bigger profits without
thinking about their workers then there will always be strikes,"
he said. (07)