JAKARTA (JP): The government-backed All Indonesian Workers Union (SPSI) yesterday denounced the rioting that has swept Medan, and in turn came under fire for failing to do more to help workers and stave off the incident.
"The SPSI condemns the way the worker strikes were staged, which was against social norms. All parties which are participating in handling labor problems in the province should comply with the Pancasila-based industrial relations system," SPSI Chairman Imam Sudarwo said in a statement released here yesterday.
Legislator Bambang Wari Kusuma, a member of the House of Representatives' Commission on labor, said that the SPSI itself must shoulder some of the blame for the incident.
He called the SPSI's failure to assist workers in negotiations with employers as an undeniable factor in the dissatisfaction that led to the outburst.
"SPSI has only the spirit but not the capability and professionalism to fight for the good of workers," he said.
Imam's statement sought to focus the attention on the rival independent Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union. It suggested the strikers were influenced by instigation and agitation of parties seeking personal gain, a clear reference to the SBSI, which has been accused by the Armed Forces as being behind the strikes.
Chief of the North Sumatra provincial manpower office, Khairun, agreed with Bambang, saying that employers, not workers, have played the dominant role in establishing SPSI units at their companies.
Bambang also added that the minister of manpower's relationship with the organization, and the fact that most of its officials are not workers, have made the union ineffective. "The presence of the SBSI and the violent labor strikes in North Sumatra are proving the SPSI's failure."
SPSI Vice Chairman Datoek Gondo, who attended the press briefing with Imam, also pointed to government failure to force provincial businessmen to pay the daily minimum wage.
"The rallies turned into vandalism and violent rioting because workers in the province have long been under pressure," he said, citing the many companies in flagrant violation of the November minimum wage rise to Rp 3,100 (US$1.45).
Illegal
What is disputed by none is the tragic outcome of the violence and lawlessness that ensued as the protests in the streets and factories of the city turned ugly. One Chinese businessman was killed, and scores of Chinese-owned cars and shops were damaged or looted.
Imam said the strikes prior to the violence were illegal, because they were not held in accordance with the existing procedures as stipulated in the Pancasila industrial relations concept.
Strikes are only allowed if staged at factories and with a police permit.
He said the government should investigate the incidents thoroughly and prosecute any individual parties or groups found to be behind them.
Datoek denounced the demonstrators' demands for a minimum wage hike to Rp 7,000 ($3.25) as irrational and impossible.
"It is impossible for the SPSI to propose such a high leap and the level cannot be set arbitrarily," he said.
Asked about the demonstrators' demands for a non-government trade union, he said there is a national consensus that they should not be allowed to have one.
"We must be consistent with the national consensus," he said citing a 1973 labor declaration.
If two or more trade unions are needed consensus must be changed, he said.
Rather than take a conciliatory approach to labor, the provincial security agency (Bakorstanasda) has been deploying special teams to restore order at factories where workers were striking, he said.
Khairun said over 1,100 companies in the province have been found violating labor regulations and 17 of them have been brought to court.
The labor law, however, threatens violators only with a fine of Rp 100,000, or a maximum sentence of three months in prison. (rms)