Govt's decision on minimum wages set for next week

JAKARTA (JP): The government will announce its decision on the much-awaited minimum wage rise after a meeting with the National Wage Council here next Tuesday, a senior official from the Ministry of Manpower said yesterday.

Director General of Labor Supervision Syaufi'i Syamsuddin said new Minister of Manpower Theo L. Sambuaga would chair the meeting with the council, which comprises workers, business representatives and the government.

"I can't say now whether there'll be a raise or not," Syaufi'i was quoted by Antara as saying about the minimum wage or Upah Minimum Regional (UMR). In the past, the government determined the rise in January and enacted the ruling in April.

This year's delayed announcement has been widely discussed, as the call of some labor activists for a raise was countered by businesspeople citing the monetary crisis.

Early this year, four labor-intensive industry associations -- Association of All Indonesian Shoe Industries (Aprisindo), Indonesian Textile Association (API), Association of Indonesian Manufacturing Companies (AMI), and Association of Indonesian Toy Industries (APMI) -- complained that its member companies would find it difficult to raise wages due to the dire economic situation.

The All-Indonesia Workers Union Federation had proposed that workers' minimum wages be raised at least 13 percent. The foundation cited the soaring prices of basic commodities -- a condition which in many regions has led to rioting.

The minimum wage differs from one area of the country to another. The minimum monthly wage in Greater Jakarta is Rp 172,000 (US$17.20).

The highest minimum wage of Rp 220,500 is for those working in the industrial zone of Batam, Riau. Yogyakarta still has the lowest minimum wage of Rp 106,500.

Syaufi'i said he could only present his views to the council about the possible impacts if the wages were raised or not.

He conceded, however, that not all companies were suffering from the present economic predicament and could therefore raise their workers' wages.

Some plantation companies in several areas in Sumatra such as Aceh, North Sumatra, West Sumatra, and Riau had even reached an agreement with their workers' union that wages would be raised by 16.8 percent this year, he said without elaborating.

Syaufi'i said the government had always encouraged all companies and every branch of the workers union in companies to make their own agreements over wages so they did not depend on the government fixing minimum wages.

"It (cooperation) would be more beneficial for the workers' welfare."

He said it was difficult for the government to determine and set a wage rise at a certain level for all companies this year due to their varying financial conditions.

Antara quoted yesterday manpower ministry data that said between when the crisis began last July and last month, 65,442 workers from 278 companies have been laid off.

About 6,000 more from 56 companies are facing being laid off, and 40,000 from 91 companies have been forced to work in shifts, it said.

This year's crisis has also caused more than 3.9 million workers to lose their jobs, mainly in the construction sector which has been the most hard hit during the economic slowdown.

However, some observers have given a much grimmer estimation, saying the total number of people laid off or dismissed has reached 13 million.

The ministry has said that if the economy grows by 1.3 percent this year, only 1.3 million new jobs would be created for the expected 2.7 million people entering the job market.

The government has put economic growth this year at zero percent. (aan)