Sat, 23 Dec 2000

Government unveils minimum wage hike

JAKARTA (JP): The government on Friday officially announced an average hike of 33.5 percent in the monthly minimum wage in 24 provinces which is expected to become effective on Jan. 1.

The 24 provinces mentioned include the eight provinces of Aceh, Riau, East Kalimantan, North Sumatra, Central Sulawesi, East and West Nusa Tenggara and the Riau archipelago where minimum wage increases were already announced last month.

The monthly minimum wages were determined by the provincial tripartite wages committees in the provinces and have been approved by the respective governors.

Director General for Industrial Relations and Labor Standards at the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration, Syaufii Syamsuddin, said that with the implementation of regional autonomy in 2001, the central government would no longer have the exclusive authority to determine the minimum wage.

The monthly minimum wage in Jakarta was raised by 24 percent to Rp 426,250 (US$45.8) from Rp 344,257 ($37) while in West Java it was hiked by 7 percent to Rp 245,000 from Rp 230,000.

The minimum wage in the Batam industrial zone was raised by 14 percent to Rp 485,000 from Rp 425,000 while that in East Java was hiked by 9 percent to Rp 220,000 from Rp 202,000.

North Sulawesi had the highest increase of 100 percent to Rp 372,000 from the present Rp 186,000, while the lowest percentage increase was in West Java were it rose just 7 percent from Rp 230,000 to Rp 245,000.

According to Syaufii, the minimum wages in the newly established provinces of Gorontalo, Banten, North Maluku and Bangka-Belitung were similar to their mother provinces because the new provincial administrations had yet to be established.

Lampung and Central Kalimantan have yet to decide on their minimum wages because of deadlocked negotiations in the their respective tripartite wages committees.

Syaufii also urged that in the future labor unions should start focussing more on their bargaining power vis-a-vis employers to help boost overall workers' welfare instead of merely highlighting their efforts on the minimum wage.

"Labor unions should no longer focus their struggle on just regional minimum wages but intensify bipartite negotiations with employers to help improve workers' social welfare," he told The Jakarta Post here on Friday.

The presence of labor unions in companies was essential for representing workers in negotiating employment matters, including wages and remuneration, allowances and other facilities, he said.

"The regional minimum wages are valid only for (new) job seekers and workers with zero work experience while workers employed in firms are already paid above the minimum wage level," he pointed out. (rms)