Indonesian workers mark Labor Day with rallies

Indonesian workers mark Labor Day with rallies

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian workers took the opportunity of Labor
Day on Tuesday to hold rallies and voice their demand for better
pay and working conditions.

Organized by newly empowered labor unions, thousands of
workers staged rallies in major cities across the country. Most
of these rallies were peaceful, though several people were
injured in the West Java capital of Bandung when hundreds of
workers clashed with police.

Rally participants were unified in demanding that May Day be
declared an official holiday, that workers be given greater
freedom to organize and that authorities put an end to arbitrary
dismissals.

"The government and the House of Representatives must take
action to stop the troubling trend of arbitrary layoffs," union
leader Dita Indah Sari told about 5,000 workers at the National
Monument in Central Jakarta. Dita also demanded the government
declare May Day a national holiday.

Addressing the same crowd, labor activist Muchtar Pakpahan
called on the government to raise the minimum wage 100 percent.

Pakpahan, the chairman of the Indonesian Prosperous Labor
Union, also demanded the government eliminate working contract
systems used by employers and establish an official eight-hour
workday.

Dita and Pakpahan were both jailed by former president
Soeharto for organizing labor protests.

Soeharto outlawed May Day celebrations and free trade unions
during his 32-year rule. His successor, B.J. Habibie, liberalized
the labor movement in April 1999. Habibie also ratified three
International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions, including
those on the abolition of forced labor and on discrimination in
employment and occupation.

The visiting executive director of the ILO, Kari Tapiola,
urged Indonesian workers to unite, saying the ILO supported their
struggle.

In another part of Jakarta, hundreds of workers from the
Tanjung Priok sea port in North Jakarta staged a peaceful rally
in front of the North Jakarta mayoralty office. The workers
demanded the elimination of illegal levies at the port.

Jakarta Police chief Inspector Gen. Mulyono Sulaeman said
about 2,000 police officers were deployed to ensure public order
during the May Day rallies in Jakarta.

In Bandung, hundreds of members of the National Front of
Indonesian Labor Fighters clashed with police officers who
blocked them from the West Java legislative council building.
Several activists and police officers were injured in the
violence.

Some of the workers claimed they were unaware of the planned
protest, saying they were told if they came to the council
building they could settle disputes they had with their
employers.

"I came because I was promised that our dispute with PT
Lunatex would be settled here," said Nano, an employee of the
textile firm.

In Medan, North Sumatra, some 3,000 workers rallied at the
local provincial legislative council building and the governor's
office, demanding better working conditions and an increase in
the minimum wage.

Workers from plywood factory PT Tjipta Rimba Djaya who took
part in the rally were docked their pay for the day. The company
claimed the workers missed work to take part in the rally without
prior approval from the management.

In Surabaya, East Java, approximately 2,000 workers, including
employees of Maspion II and PT Japfa Comfeed, marched five
kilometers from Bungkul Park to the provincial legislative
council building. The rally was organized by the Regional Labor
Union.

The workers demanded the government honor murdered labor
activist Marsinah as a national hero.

Marsinah, murdered in 1993, worked at watch factory PT Catur
Putra Surya in Porong, East Java. She was allegedly killed for
organizing protests to demand better wages and her murder remains
unsolved.

"Marsinah is the true symbol of the struggle of labor against
the arbitrariness of the government and employers," said Arief,
one of the protest leaders.

In Semarang, Central Java, thousands of workers held rallies
at the Mangkang industrial zone, the local legislative council
building and the governor's office.

Meanwhile, the head of the All-Indonesia Workers Union
Federation's Central Java office, K.M. Umar, had his own take on
how laborers could defend their rights.

"I urge all workers just to pray for Indonesia. Strikes will
only cause more companies to go bankrupt," Umar said. (team)