Federation opens doors to journalists

Federation opens doors to journalists

JAKARTA (JP): The All-Indonesia Workers Union Federation
(SPSI) says journalists can, and should, form their own union and
join the federation.

Hikayat Atika Karwa, a federation deputy, told Antara that the
federation changed its statutes last year to allow other
professionals to form sectoral unions and join the federation.

Hikayat, who was interviewed in connection with National Press
Day last Friday, argued that journalists could better secure
their rights by forming a union.

However, the issue of journalists forming their own union has
been a contentious subject for some time.

The government insists that journalists are not workers but
professionals, whose interests should be taken care of by a
professional organization.

Government officials also claim that journalists are already
taken care of since press publications must allocate at least 20
percent of their equity to their workers.

Hikayat said that since the SPSI transformed last November
from a unitary organization into a federation of many sectoral
unions, it can now accept professionals.

"We're about to accept unions of film artists and university
lecturers," he disclosed.

The federation is currently made up of thirteen unions
representing workers in the trade, textile, banking and retail
sectors.

He said the presence of a union representative in a press
operation would facilitate negotiations with the owners over
productivity deals as well as the journalists' rights.

He dismissed as groundless the suggestion that a union in a
press publication would lead to strikes. On the contrary, he
said, pointing to statistics which show that 90 percent of worker
strikes in 1994-95 occurred at companies without unions.

Union representation could also facilitate the establishment
of collective labor agreements, which stipulate the rights and
obligations of both parties, he said.

Hikayat said he welcomed the plan by the Indonesian
Journalists Association (PWI) to set minimum wage levels for the
profession.

The issue was discussed at PWI meetings held during last
weekend's National Press Day celebrations in Surakarta, Central
Java.

Hikayat cautioned that minimum wages should only be applicable
to small publications because the major publications are already
paying their journalists relatively high salaries.

Meanwhile, Antara reported from Surabaya that some journalists
working as correspondents for Jakarta publications are still
receiving wages below the minimum wage levels set by the
government for ordinary workers.

One journalist, identified by his initials AU, said the most
he ever received was Rp 81,000 a month, well below the Rp 3,600 a
day minimum wage level set by the government for Surabaya.

He once received a paltry Rp 3,000 for the month because he
was ill.

"This is not commensurate with the job and the risk we are
facing as journalists," he said, adding that he welcomed the PWI
initiative.

He said to make ends meet, he and many other colleagues have
had to take a second job. (emb)