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)