Govt to raid firms exploiting child workers

JAKARTA (JP): The government will crack down on companies, including those in Jakarta and its surrounding areas, which exploit child workers, Minister of Manpower Fahmi Idris said yesterday.

"We will impose stiff sanctions, as stipulated under the new labor law, on employers found guilty of labor exploitation," Fahmi said in a meeting with about 200 child workers from Greater Jakarta here yesterday.

The meeting was organized by the Indonesian Committee for Creative Education of Child Labor Foundation (Kompak) in celebrating International Children's Day, which fell yesterday.

The minister, who received reports on the exploitation of child workers during the meeting, said the new labor law, to be enacted Oct. 1, barred companies from employing child workers, except those who are voluntarily employed because of financial need.

"Employers should realize that child workers, who should spend their time going school and playing games at home, are employed at their firms because of financial problems."

Based on the law, firm owners found guilty of exploiting children could face two-year imprisonment or a maximum fine of Rp 200 million (US$14,180).

He acknowledged that many parents could not send their children to school, especially in today's economic climate, and that the only alternative was to send them to work to help the family earn a living.

He called on child workers to set up their own organization or join trade unions in their companies to prevent exploitation by their employers.

Ernawati (not her real name), a 13-year-old female worker at paper bag manufacturer PT Samsung Piet and Pack Indonesia in Cicadas, Bogor, said the management employed about 200 school-age children for a seven-hour workday, instead of the four hours allowed by law.

"We are also forced to work every Monday from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. without a break. We are paid only Rp 172,500 monthly in accordance with the monthly minimum wage in Greater Jakarta," she said.

Wiwiek (not her real name), 12, said she and 200 other child workers worked seven hours a day for only Rp 20,000 per week at unleavened cracker factory PT Yudiwangi in Tangerang.

She said she dropped out of junior high school last December after her father was dismissed from his job because of the prolonged crisis.

According to Ministry of Manpower Decree No. 1, issued in 1987, child workers who work voluntarily out of necessity should be employed not more than four hours a day.

Hasyim (also not his real name), 14, of plastic factory PT Multi Astamas in Tangerang, said that all child workers in the company were forced to work an average of seven hours a day.

He said a number of child workers in the company had been fired without severance pay.

He added that child workers were forced to work in shifts and at night for two weeks per month.

Bagio (not his real name), 14, who works at food company PT Sinar Mutiara in Bantar Gebang, East Jakarta, reported to the minister that many child workers in the company had been threatened with dismissal for demanding a raise in their daily wage.

"I am paid only Rp 5,000 a day," he said.

Kompak director Ariest Merdeka Sirait called on the government to make a new law to provide legal protection for child workers.

"Legal protection for child workers has not been fully covered in the law," he said, citing that his organization would lodge a draft law on legal protection for child workers to the House of Representatives in the near future. (rms)