Federation Urges Media Workers to Unionise
The Federation of Independent Media Workers’ Unions (FSPMI) states that employment conditions in the media sector are showing increasingly evident vulnerabilities. Media workers face low wages, unilateral terminations of employment (PHK), and job uncertainty. Therefore, FSPMI is urging media workers to unionise.
According to FSPMI Chair Aisha Sahidra, media workers are also confronted with risks of violence and criminalisation while carrying out journalistic duties. “Media workers remain in a vulnerable position, both economically and in terms of work protection. This situation requires a stronger collective response,” she said, quoted from a written statement on Thursday, 30 April 2026.
In imbalanced employment relations, Aisha said, companies hold control over workers’ time, energy, and even safety aspects. This situation leaves workers in a weak position, while demands for productivity, speed, and courage continue to rise without adequate protection and welfare.
“Work pressure is increasingly widespread, not only in terms of task burden but also in personal life, including physical, psychological, and legal risks that workers must bear themselves,” she said.
Additionally, Aisha noted, companies demand productivity, speed, and courage without providing equivalent welfare guarantees and protection for journalists and media workers. Exploitation extends from workload to control over workers’ lives.
“Workers are forced to accept unworthy conditions as normal while bearing physical risks, psychological pressure, and legal threats themselves,” she said.
Data from the Press Council records at least 1,200 media workers affected by PHK throughout 2023 to 2024. Meanwhile, the Indonesian Independent Journalists Alliance records more than 800 media workers experiencing PHK from 2024 to mid-2025. These figures are estimated to be higher because not all companies report their employment conditions openly.
Aisha assesses that these various issues not only impact workers but also threaten press freedom and the public’s right to information. Therefore, ahead of the 2026 International Labour Day commemoration, FSPMI is urging media workers to strengthen their position through unions as a form of collective resistance.
Currently, based on FSPMI records, out of nearly 2,000 media companies in Indonesia, fewer than 50 have workers’ unions. Efforts to form them often face obstacles, including union-busting practices.
“May Day 2026 is a momentum to strengthen media workers’ solidarity, expand union membership, and push for more just and sustainable employment policies,” said Aisha.
On that occasion, FSPMI voices several main demands, including labour law protection that favours workers, the elimination of detrimental work systems like outsourcing, the halt of mass PHK, guarantees of decent wages, and protection of the right to unionise.
“These demands are basic rights, and the state is obliged to guarantee them to maintain a system that upholds social justice. Media workers, as part of the working class, have the same interests in fighting for fair, safe, and humane working conditions,” said Aisha.