Give workers more power, union chief says
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia cannot hope to achieve harmonious industrial relations unless it is willing to give its workers more political power, a top union official says.
Bomer Pasaribu, the secretary-general of the All-Indonesia Workers Union (SPSI), called for labor reforms that ensure workers enough power to put them at a par with management.
The present labor system was developed with the purpose of keeping workers wages low, a factor seen as a prerequisite to attracting foreign investors, Bomer told a seminar on industrial relations yesterday.
He implied that union power had been purposefully weakened to achieve that goal.
He proposed a new system that ensures industrial democracy and in turn harmonious industrial relations.
"Democratization of the industrial sector should be encouraged to put workers in an equal position at the negotiating table with employers or capital owners," Bomer said.
He cited the lack of democracy as the prime cause of much of the labor unrest in Indonesia in recent years, including the workers' protest that turned riotous in Medan, North Sumatra, last month.
But while arguing for a system that guarantees workers freedom to organize, Bomer insisted that workers should unite in one union, the SPSI, to ensure its effectiveness and strength.
"To strengthen the workers position, they should be unified in a single organization, SPSI," he said.
He emphasized that the single union concept was a commitment made by 23 separate labor organizations which merged into one federation in 1973.
Disappointment
He claimed that almost all countries in the world have only one labor union.
SPSI's existence has been widely questioned by many of its members in recent years, with many expressing disappointment at its failure in defending their interests.
The creation of the Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union (SBSI) two years ago was intended to address these concerns but the government has refused to recognize it as a legal entity.
SBSI has been blamed for organizing the workers' protests which disintegrated into rioting in Medan last month.
Bomer proposed that as part of the labor reforms, workers should be given training in effective bargaining strategies to enable them to better deal with managements.
He said that while the first 25-year development program in Indonesia produced many large business conglomerations, the conditions of Indonesian workers have worsened. "It is an irony that the labor situation is worsening amid the success of economic development," he said.
Efforts to form unions are appallingly weak, with almost 70 percent of the 147,000 registered manufacturing companies in Indonesia still without SPSI representatives.
Bomer also acknowledged that collusion between managements and elected workers' representatives was rife, calling this another detrimental factor to the progress of workers.
Bomer also called for a more transparent wage system and a limit on the differential between the salaries of the top management and the lowest rank of workers.
He said that in industrial countries, the ratio is set at 1:15. (rms)