Government urged to make radical change in labor policy
Government urged to make radical change in labor policy
JAKARTA (JP): A senior official of the Federation of All
Indonesian Workers Unions called yesterday for radical change in
the labor policy to strengthen workers' bargaining power.
Union deputy chief Wilhelmus Bokha told a seminar the
government should stop its habitual interference in the labor
organization's internal affairs.
It will also have to stop collusion between its officials and
entrepreneurs, bury its feudalistic attitude and review its
capitalist economic system, he said.
"Workers can use their massive power to undermine the 1997
general election unless the government improves their welfare,"
he warned.
The Indonesian government plans to raise minimum daily wages
by an average of 10.6 percent across the country next month.
The minimum daily wage in Jakarta and its surrounding areas,
for instance, will be raised from the current Rp 4,600 (US$1.9)
to Rp 5,200 ($2.2). In North Sumatra, the level will be increased
from Rp 4.200 to Rp 4,600 and in East Java from Rp 3,700 to Rp
4,000.
Bokha said the planned increase in the daily wage levels won't
be adequate for workers to make the ends meet.
The meager minimum wages are simply a logical consequence of a
capitalist economic system combined with feudalistic political
practices, he argued. This, he said, encourages collusion,
monopoly, oligopoly and corruption.
He challenged the government's recent claim that at the
current wage levels, workers are able to meet "108 percent" of
their minimum physical needs, meaning food, housing, recreation
and education.
"It is impossible for workers to eat enough, afford modest
houses and enjoy recreation at the same time; their wages are too
low," he said.
He said he does not agree that Indonesian workers deserve such
small wages because the quality of their work is poor and their
productivity low.
"The Malaysian government has publicly acknowledged that the
productivity of Indonesians working in its plantations is higher
than that of local workers'," he said.
"That's why Indonesians are paid more than Bangladeshis,
Vietnamese and Filipinos working in the same sectors."
He also pointed out that Indonesian minimum wages are the
lowest among ASEAN countries although their productivity is
higher than that of Malaysian and Thai workers.
Hourly pay in Indonesia is $0.25, Malaysia $1.80, the
Philippines $0.68, Thailand $0.71, China $0.58 and Vietnam $0.73,
he said.
It was Bennett Silalahi, a senior researcher from the
Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), who said that Indonesian
workers' wage levels are low because their productivity is also
low.
"All employers will try to keep their production costs as low
as possible to rake in as much profit as possible. Of all
production costs, it is the labor cost which can most easily be
kept low," he said.
Sjahrir, an economist from the University of Indonesia, said
in the seminar that the low minimum wage level is caused by the
surplus of workers in the market.
"No employer worries about running short of workers. If one
worker quits his job, ten or more others will queue up to replace
him," he said. (rms)