Garment factory workers seeking salary increases
Garment factory workers seeking salary increases
JAKARTA (JP): Garment factory workers are demanding that their companies not only raise the minimum wage but that salaries be based according to seniority, said the head of the Bekasi chapter of the All Indonesia Workers Union (SPSI).
"So far we have received delegates from five companies to discuss the salary increases," Abu Bastari told The Jakarta Post yesterday.
After receiving a 20-member delegation, who represented 200 fellow workers at the PT Hanin garment company, Abu said the group was the fifth to have come to his office to discuss the problem.
The previous four were delegations from the Sungitex, Karintex and Shintatex garment factories and from the Tong Yang shoe factory, he said, adding that slow business in the garment industry, especially last year, is beginning to cause many workers to be concerned about their futures.
Three garment factories in Bekasi, 30 km southeast of here, closed down last year, he said.
"The bankruptcy has scared many garment labors who believe they will suffer the same fate or that the company will fail to increase their salary according to the new minimum wage regulations," he said.
He said that based on last year's experience a minimum wage increase should be followed by proportional wage increase for senior workers.
Abu said that the workers earning the minimum wage got the raise but that many companies failed to provide additional increases for long-time workers based on their seniority.
The failure provoked protest rallies at 40 percent of all 600 companies in Bekasi last year, he added.
After last year's 21 percent wage increase for Jakarta and its surrounding areas, including Bekasi, the government is now considering another wage hike.
The SPSI recently proposed an minimum salary increase from Rp 4,600 (US$2.00) to Rp 5,300 for the greater Jakarta area. The organization also announced that it would propose an increase of between 10 and 20 percent for all provinces.
Kusnadi, the spokesman of the worker delegation, told the SPSI chapter leader yesterday that PT Hanin had so far paid their salaries and provided the proper facilities.
"However, SPSI advised us as to how we should channel our demands regarding a proportional salary increase and bonus after the new minimum wage is implemented," he told the Post.
The Indonesian Employers Association said last week that the minimum wage increases of the last two years have been so burdensome for many companies that some have had to postpone making the increase.
The association has urged the government to take into consideration the company's ability to pay the new wage increase put forward by SPSI in its proposal. (03)