Imam skips responsibility

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