Jakarta's 34,000 firms fail to provide facilities
Jakarta's 34,000 firms fail to provide facilities
JAKARTA (JP): Not one of the 34,000 companies operating in Jakarta has paid proper attention to their worker's welfare as required by regulation, a city councilor has said.
The chairman of the council's commission for people's welfare, Atje Mulyadi, said yesterday that none of the companies have implemented the decree for the improvement of workers' welfare by providing them with facilities and allowances as stipulated.
Decree No. 7/1989 states that a company is obliged to provide their workers with medical services, religious centers, uniforms, cafeterias, sports centers, recreation, transportation, housing, dormitories, rest rooms, meeting rooms, child care centers, insurance, cooperatives, and basic education for them and their children, Atje said. "The workers also deserve financial aid in case they or someone in their families die," he added.
"But none of the companies have provided all that the regulations require. Some companies have given their workers some facilities, but other company owners claim they know nothing about the decree," Atje said.
The councilors found during impromptu visits to several companies that some of them included uniforms and transport allowances in the workers' wages.
"The wages have nothing to do with any allowances. Workers deserve to be picked up at work places and taken home. If the employers cannot provide the workers with buses then they must give the workers transport allowances in compensation, apart from the wages," he said.
Atje said that the companies' failure to implement the regulations was the result of the administration's failure in promoting the decree to the companies and the workers.
The city manpower agency should have worked together with the city Manpower Ministry office in promoting the regulations.
Cooperation
The city manpower agency's operation is under the auspices of City Hall, while the city manpower ministry office is responsible to the Ministry of Manpower.
"There has been poor coordination between the two offices. The fact that only small number of companies are implementing the decree can be cited as evidence," he said.
He said poor law enforcement is another factor encouraging the companies to ignore the regulations on workers' welfare.
"Punishment for the violators is too light," he said.
The decree stipulates that violator may get three months imprisonment or be fined of Rp 50,000 (US$23.25).
In a related development, another member of the commission, Salam Sumangat, said that the upcoming increase in the minimum wage in the city will have no positive impact on workers if the prices of goods and food also increase.
He said that the city wage commission has proposed to increase the minimum wage from Rp 4,600 to Rp 5,400 per day. It is still being reviewed by the ministry of manpower.
The government plans to announce the new minimum wage nationwide soon. (yns)