Hike in regional minimum wages set

Hike in regional minimum wages set

JAKARTA (JP): The government plans to increase regional
minimum wages by between 10 percent and 20 percent next April.

Syaufii Samsuddin, director general of industrial relations
and labor standards at the manpower ministry, said on Tuesday
that almost all provincial offices of the ministry had proposed
an increase in minimum wages. Minister of Manpower Fahmi Idris
was expected to announce the decision on an increase in January.

"This increase is expected to raise optimism among workers in
the coming year," Syaufii said. He acknowledged the financial
difficulties many firms were facing, but said that not all would
be unable to pay at least the minimum wages.

Syaufii said the government would also decide upon the minimum
wages in sectors which were considered able to pay workers higher
than the minimum wage levels.

"Aceh proposes raising minimum wages in eight sectors and
North Sumatra proposes hikes in seven sectors, including
agriculture, food and beverages, and electronics," he said.

Last April, the government raised regional minimum wages by an
average of 15 percent.

A 10 percent increase for a single worker in Greater Jakarta
(Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi), for instance, will
increase the minimum wage to Rp 218,350 from Rp 198,500.

The ministry rules that companies requiring permission to
delay increasing their workers' salaries should forward their
requests to the ministry within three months of the new
ministerial decree on minimum wages taking effect.

The ministry will, if necessary, audit the companies making
such requests before deciding whether they can delay increasing
salaries.

Regional minimum wages refer to the lowest wages in small-
scale companies, while minimum wages for sectors are higher.

The director general said that despite numerous labor unions,
only the All-Indonesia Workers Union Federation (SPSI) had been
recommended by the government to represent workers in
negotiations on pay increases with their employers.

"New labor unions have yet to be allowed to negotiate with
managements because the company unions have yet to register with
the government," he said.

Ministerial Decree No. 5/1998 requires all new labor unions,
including branches in provinces and regencies, to register with
the government.

Syaufii also called on companies to pay annual bonuses to
workers who celebrate Christmas before Dec. 25, and to those who
celebrate Idul Fitri before Jan. 10.

"According to the government regulation, companies are obliged
to pay a bonus equaling one-month salary plus allowances as
annual bonuses to their workers. Companies failing to comply with
the government ruling will be punished in accordance with the
1969 labor law," he said.

Syaufii said no companies had requested exemption from the
ruling on annual bonuses. He said that last year, 87 companies
were allowed to defer paying annual bonuses to their workers.
Fourteen companies' requests were turned down.

He also said workers who were dismissed 30 days before
Christmas or Idul Fitri were entitled to an annual bonus.

Syaufii also appealed to companies to help provide
transportation facilities to workers who wanted to travel to
their hometowns to celebrate Idul Fitri and to ensure that they
would return to Jakarta on time.

"Transportation facilities would benefit not only workers but
also help them to return to their workplaces on time," he said.
(rms)