Jamsostek promises to improve workers' welfare
Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Puncak
State pension fund and workplace insurer PT Jamsostek vowed on Sunday to allocate part of its profit this year to improve workers' welfare in the next.
Jamsostek president Achmad Djunaidi said the company was expected to book a profit of about Rp 3 trillion (US$340) this year.
A majority of this would be given back to workers by raising the interest rates on their pension funds to 8.5 percent per annum, increasing compensation for those in workplace accidents and developing more low-cost houses and flats for workers.
"Jamsostek stakeholders and the management have decided to give a bigger share of the company's profit to workers ... the hike in compensation for workers in accidents will be decided in the immediate future," he said here on Sunday.
Djunaidi said management along with the government, as the majority shareholder, had also agreed to hold back a larger portion of the government's dividend this year and use it to develop more low-cost houses and cheap flats in industrial zones across the country.
"President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has decided to launch a secondary mortgage finance (SMF) scheme to encourage housing developers to issue housing bonds guaranteed by the government and Jamsostek will buy the bonds to help workers pay for simple houses and flats," he said.
This year, Jamsostek disbursed Rp 295 billion to help workers buy low-cost houses and build low-cost flats in industrial zones in North Sumatra, Riau, Jakarta, West Jakarta and South Sulawesi. Jamsostek is scheduled to construct more cheap flats in Jakarta and its outskirts, Surabaya and North Sumatra.
Operations director Indra Haryadi said besides getting more workers into social security programs, Jamsostek and the government were considering raising the insurance premium in a bid to give more benefits to workers.
"Jamsostek premiums are only 7 percent: 2 percent from workers and the remaining 5 percent from employers. Jamsostek could not do many things to help improve the workers' welfare because of the low insurance premium," he said, adding that Indonesia pension premiums were the lowest in Southeast Asia.
Despite the large profits, Jamsostek could not afford good health care programs, higher compensation for workers in workplace accidents and bigger payments in the pension fund programs because of the low premium, he said.
"So far, Jamsostek has assets of Rp 30 trillion with the participation of 23 million workers contributing to four social security programs -- health care, life insurance, occupational accidents and pension funds," he said.
The premiums had to be raised if the government wanted workers to have quality of life in their retirement, he said.
Indra said Jamsostek would also enhance cooperation with the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry to enforce Law No. 3/1992 to net workers into the social security programs and to help improve the company's service to workers.
"Out of the 104 million workforce, only 24 million workers are participating in the social security programs and only 13 million are actively paying for their premiums. The remaining 11 million have not paid premiums because of the prolonged economic crisis.
"Many companies have also not yet enrolled their workers into the programs and many others have registered only a part of their workforce with Jamsostek," he said.