'Govt should punish violating labor recruitment agencies'

'Govt should punish violating labor recruitment agencies'

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Labor Exporters Association
(Apjati) called on authorities to take strict measures against
labor recruitment agencies violating the newly-revised labor
export procedure in a bid to improve protection for Indonesian
workers overseas.

"The government must have a strong commitment to impose
harsh sanctions against all parties, especially labor recruitment
companies which are found guilty of violating the new labor
export procedure, in order to improve labor protection and
Indonesia's image overseas," Husein Alaydrus said here on
Wednesday.

Husein admitted that the increasing number of Indonesian
workers overseas who faced difficulties, poor worker protection
and prevalent extortion of workers had a lot to do with the
extensive violations.

According to him, authorities, including the Ministry of
Manpower and Transmigration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
National Police should enhance coordination in enforcing the new
decree on labor export.

Al-Hilal Hamdi, minister of manpower and transmigration,
recently issued a labor decree to amend the 1986 ministerial
decree on labor export. The amendment to the labor export
procedure was conducted to minimize the number of troubled
workers and to improve Indonesian workers' competitiveness
abroad.

The new regulation requires labor agencies recruiting workers
to send overseas to provide at least three weeks of intensive job
training to equip workers with better skills in their respective
jobs and enhance their communication skills.

The new decree also regulates that the agencies are
responsible for all administrative and legal affairs from the
moment of a worker's recruitment to their employment overseas and
their arrival home.

Previously labor agencies were not obliged to assist with any
problems which befell workers.

The new decree also requires recruitment agencies to provide
an insurance scheme for workers and to include the workers'
rights clause in labor contracts between workers and their
employers.

The new decree also authorizes the government to set official
recruitment fees for all countries to help prevent labor
recruitment agencies from extorting higher fees from workers.

The recruitment fees, which covers plane fares and training
fees, vary depending on workers' destination countries.

Husein said the manpower and transmigration ministry and
Apjati were conducting a program to enhance labor export
procedures in accordance with the new decree.

"We are conducting an information campaign about the new labor
export procedure and all agencies are expected to abide by the
new regulation," he said, adding the information campaign would
last until Aug. 20.

Rusjdi S., chairman of the consortium of companies supplying
workers to Saudi Arabia, appreciated the amendment to the labor
procedure to improve Indonesian workers' competitiveness in the
Middle East.

He admitted that Indonesian workers had lost their competitive
advantage compared to those from the Philippines, Sri Lanka and
Bangladesh because most workers sent to the region were of low
quality.

"Indonesia will certainly win the competition if the quality
of Indonesian workers sent to the Middle East is improved," he
said, claiming that Saudi Arabian employers preferred employing
Indonesian workers to those from other countries.

Over the last six months, the government has received some
US$4 billion in remittances from more than 440,000 overseas
workers, working in numerous countries, including Taiwan, Hong
Kong, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Singapore. (rms)