Imam skips responsibility

SURABAYA: East Java Governor Imam Utomo should not be the subject of blame if companies have forcibly laid off some of their workers due to the increase of the minimum wage in the province, says a local official.

"The setting of the minimum wage in the province's regencies and mayoralties were conducted by the regents and mayors and the provincial administration was not involved. The governor has played his own role only to formalize all things which have been determined by the regents and mayors," Indra Wiragana, chief of the legal affairs unit at the provincial administration, explained here on Friday.

Indra was responding to the Chairman of the local chapter of the Indonesian Employers Association, W. Pattiradjawane's, recent statement that the governor should held responsible for the widespread layoffs that are planned at two footwear factories in Sidoarjo and Surabaya because the two companies were no longer able to pay their employees because of the increase in the minimum wage.

The governor issued a decree on the increase in the minimum wage in Surabaya and Sidoarjo regencies to Rp 453,200 from the current Rp 390,000.

"The governor issued the decree after consulting with regents, employers and local labor unions," he said. --Antara