ITF to train PPD bus drivers in labor rights
ITF to train PPD bus drivers in labor rights
JAKARTA (JP): The London-based International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) has vowed to support workers, mostly drivers, of state-run PPD city bus company and form a workers' union to defend their rights.
Shigeru Wada, ITF's secretary for the Asia-Pacific Region told about 20 PPD drivers at the office of the Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union (SBSI) Saturday that ITF would provide PPD drivers with the necessary training to enable them to communicate their interests to the company's management.
"From now on, we will help you with your education program to determine how you are going to proceed as a union in the future," he said.
He said, however, that unless the drivers form a formal union, it would be quite hard to gain further international support.
Waga said that he was amazed by the working hours and the company's wage system which he called highly irregular compared to international standards.
Twenty-two people, claiming to represent more than 12,000 PPD employees, had filed oral and written complaints about the company's poor working conditions to the ministries of transportation and manpower, the SBSI, the House of Representatives, Jakarta Governor Surjadi Soedirdja, and the National Commission on Human Rights.
They revealed how the company imposes unclear job assignments, pays insufficient allowances and prohibits them from forming a union.
The people, who came from 14 city bus pools, said that as members of the civil servant corps (Korpri) they have never received any of the facilities usually made available to corps members.
Waga said yesterday that he was especially concerned that the drivers were banned from organizing a trade union simply because they already had Korpri.
"ITF doesn't consider Korpri a substitute to a trade union," he said, adding that one of the reasons is that the organization includes the management in its membership.
He said that Korpri could be considered an organization which serves purposes other than that of a trade union.
Johny Maulana, one of the drivers, said some 1,000 drivers are ready to form a workers' union.
"We will increase our members and include drivers from other bus companies," he said.
Maulana said that after complaints to some institutions, the drivers were encouraged by the response of the management, which increased their monthly rice allowance from Rp 400 (20 US cents) to Rp 750 and their Idul Fitri bonus from Rp 30,000 to Rp 75,000.
"We'll keep struggling for better working conditions," said Maulana, who complained about the Rp 88,000 ($40) monthly salary he was earning after 20 years of working for the company.
ITF has so far cooperated with the government and recognizes the All-Indonesia Workers' Union Federation (Federation SPSI) in the shipping sector and at some of the country's airlines.
Welcome
Fauzi Ibrahim, head of Jakarta chapter of Federation SPSI, said that the federation welcomes whoever is willing to help improve workers' welfare as long as they comply with existing regulations.
He said that PPD workers are automatically members of Korpri, as are employees of state-owned companies, and therefore Korpri should address the workers' demands.
"Any complaints about the corps not functioning should be followed up with a reformation in this organization," Fauzi said. However, he refused to comment on the possibility of PPD employees forming a workers' union.
"Anyway, Korpri has proven to function well in other state- owned companies such as the President Hotel and Hotel Indonesia," he said.
Manpower ministry officers in charge of industrial relations were not available for comment.
"Officers who have the authority to talk about the matter are still out of town," Hermanto R., head of the ministry's information section told The Jakarta Post yesterday.(03)