Govt exempts 215 firms from new wage rule

JAKARTA (JP): The government has agreed to exempt 215 companies from the minimum wage regulation that went into force on April 1, accepting that they were having difficulties.

Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief told reporters at the State Palace yesterday that marketing problems were among the reasons cited by companies that have been granted the exemption.

Four other companies who applied were turned down because they could not back up their claims with any data, he said.

This is the largest exemption ever granted by the government.

The new minimum wage levels, which went into force on April 1 saw an average increase of just over 10 percent. At the same time, the government required companies to pay their workers, temporary or permanent, on the basis of 30-working days.

While most companies say they would comply with the increase, some had difficulties paying their temporary workers on a monthly rate. Some companies said the requirement would render them less competitive or put them out of business altogether.

The government refused to back down but invited companies to apply for exemption, provided they opened their books to official scrutiny.

The new regulation has also been the source of many strikes over the past two months, as workers demanded their rights while companies were delaying implementation pending the outcome of their application for the exemption.

But the chiefs of the Ministry of Manpower offices in West Java, Central Java and East Java separately said yesterday that with the exception of one or two strikes, industrial relations in their provinces were relatively calm.

Andi Usman, chief of the Central Java office, said most workers' strikes in his province were resolved within a day.

Mohd. Syaufii Syamsuddin, chief of the East Java office, said his office had been able to detect potential problems early enough to prevent them getting out of control.

Head of West Java office Wazirnuri said most workers' protests in his province were resolved quickly. The few exceptions were those that were politicized, he claimed.

Wazirnuri said his office was now on the alert because labor issues could be exploited by "certain people" for political gain in the run-up to the 1997 general election.

The three men are currently in Jakarta to take part in the Ministry of Manpower's national conference, scheduled to end today.

Syaufii said Indonesian workers have become more aware of their rights but added that they are badly organized and do not know how to channel their demands.

Many workers who sought the intervention of the Ministry of Manpower's office in East Java are not organized, lacking a leader or spokesmen to articulate their demands.(16)