Jakarta hopes SPSI more representative
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)