Govt exempts 215 firms from new wage rule

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)