Jakarta hopes SPSI more representative

JAKARTA (JP): Members of the Jakarta branch of the All Indonesia's Workers' Union (SPSI) hope the new form their organization is taking will make it more representative despite the still strong government influence.

"We will be more professional in handling cases," Helmy Salim, who was recently elected chairman of the textile, leather and shoe sector for the federation, pledged.

"Participation in political activities is an individual right; we do not mind as long as the person is committed to the welfare of workers," John Fernandez of the hotel and tourism sector, said on Saturday.

The hotel sector of SPSI, which now functions as a federation of sectoral unions, with around 18,000 members had just re- elected its chairman, Yorrys Raweyai, who heads the Pemuda Pancasila youth organization linked to the dominant political grouping, Golkar.

Almost all of Jakarta's 11 industrial sectors under the SPSI have conducted regional congresses. The upcoming national SPSI meeting aims to evaluate a decision last year to change SPSI's unitary form into that of a federation.

This federation is a return to the original form of the government sanctioned labor union.

However, while the 1973 federation (FBSI) was made up of various workers' organizations based on different political leanings, the new federation covers all industrial sectors.

"This way people who are knowledgeable in each sector will be authorized to help settle conflicts," said Helmy. "But not everyone understands what the federation is now," he added.

He was comparing conditions to the previous form of the SPSI, set up in 1984 to replace FBSI. SPSI had a unitary form in which regional and district boards controlled the sectors.

"Now the relationships between the sectors and the district or regional boards are only coordinative," he added.

Critics have lamented the union's ineffectiveness due to the influence of appointees close to the Golkar ruling party in whatever form the organization has taken.

Fernandez, chairman of the union at the Jakarta Hilton Hotel, pointed to the urgent need to recruit more members and approach employers more persuasively.

"What is important is that Yorrys is the right person to lobby employers in making them aware that labor unions are not their enemies," said Fernandez, who was temporarily dismissed for his alleged involvement in a strike last year.

Yorrys heads an association of entertainment workers, which has around 100,000 members, who are yet to join SPSI, Fernandez said. (anr)