JP/4/LABOR
Judgeship hopefuls seek decent salary
The Jakarta Post Jakarta
Although the new labor court system will not be set up until next year, prospective candidates in line for judgeships in the courts, which will hear and adjudicate upon industrial relations disputes, have expressed concerns about the possibility of low salaries.
"The number one concern among us is remuneration," said Sinfua Zebua, a candidate nominated by an industry group, on the sidelines of a training course organized by the International Labor Organization (ILO) here on Thursday.
"If the remuneration is too low, there will be a temptation to accept bribes, which will obviously prejudice the independence of the court."
Gandi Sugandi, the director of the Industrial Disputes Settlement Bureau at the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration, said that the salaries for non-career judges, who will sit in the courts full time, were still being discussed.
"The actual amount is still confidential," he said.
Another participant in the course, Frans, suggested that labor court judges receive basic salaries of at least Rp 5 million (around US$500) per month.
"I've heard the government is planning to pay the judges Rp 2.5 million per month, which is entirely unacceptable. The industry side has proposed a salary of not less than Rp 5 million," he said.
A candidate nominated by a labor union, who requested anonymity, said that the government should not just preach about judicial independence and impartiality, while at the same time refused to pay adequate salaries.
"Obviously, if the salary is too low, we'll take whatever we can get in bribes," he said. "We would be completely insane not to."
The Supreme Court has been attempting to reform the judiciary in order to rid it of corruption. A blueprint that has been drawn up to map out these reforms proposes that district court judges receive a monthly starting salary of Rp 5 million.
Jane Hodges, an ILO labor specialist, agreed that the labor court judges would have to be properly remunerated if the new courts were to function as intended.
"There will be a potential for corruption if they are poorly paid, which will lead to a lack of confidence in the system," said Hodges.
The new courts, which will start sitting next year, will replace the current industrial relations dispute settlement committee system.
Under this system, all labor disputes are brought before a tripartite committee consisting of workers, employers and the government, which holds veto power through the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration.
Cases in the labor courts will be heard by panels consisting of one career judge and two non-career judges, one each from the employers' side and the labor side.
The new courts, which must hand down a decision within 50 days of the coming of the dispute before the court, is expected to accelerate adjudications in labor disputes, which currently can take up to five years to resolve, and thus reduce the backlog of outstanding cases.
The three-day training course was attended by 42 Indonesian judgeship candidates and Timor Leste judges. The Indonesian participants are among 200 candidates for positions in the first provincial labor courts to be set up in Jakarta, Banten and West Java.
An organizer said a number of Indonesian career judges had also been invited to attend the workshop, but had refused to come due to the "limited per diem allowances and below-average facilities". (002)