House hails bills on ILO conventions

JAKARTA (JP): House members are hopeful three bills on International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions on workers rights submitted by the government last month will end labor exploitation here.

Anthonius Rahail of the Indonesian Democratic Party's (PDI) faction in the House said the conventions should immediately be incorporated into Indonesian law to help uphold people's sovereignty and restore workers' political and economic rights.

"For decades, workers have been subject to exploitation (for the sake) of high economic growth. They are the only major vulnerable group who have not enjoyed the fruits of development," he said during a hearing with Minister of Manpower Fachmi Idris here on Monday.

The hearing was presided over by Marzuki Achmad of the House's Golkar faction.

The government submitted the bills to the House on April 7. The bills are ILO Convention No. 105 on the abolition of forced labor, ILO Convention No. 111 on discrimination in employment and occupation and ILO Convention No. 138 on the minimum age for workers.

Golkar's Ismoe Handoko berated Soeharto's New Order regime and President B.J. Habibie's administration, whose efforts to attract foreign investment often trampled on workers' rights.

He pointed out, for example, how workers remained underpaid during the New Order era even when economic growth reached 7 percent. They were paid only 63 percent of their real wages while the remaining 37 percent became a "subsidy" for employers.

Ismoe, also a labor activist, said child labor and discrimination in the workplace were still rampant in the country.

"A large number of school-age children in Indonesia voluntarily work to help their family. They have been deprived of a happy childhood," he said, citing as an example the employment of more than 15,000 children on the so-called jermal off-shore fishing structures in North Sumatra.

Deliberations on the three bills will begin on Tuesday. The bills are expected to be passed into law on April 23. (rms)